Podcasts about sunbrella

Grab your Sunbrella and veil and meet us in the Beach Bungalow Live for an all new LIVE! It's a new draft that feels like one we've done before but we probably haven't. What would YOU want to sweat? Pat retires a bit. Matt goes back to 5th grade to find the time capsule. Pat recaps a high school football game. Matt doesn't like the old Chinese man in the bodega. Plus, does sweat go through pipes? What's your SPF? Why did Trivia Master Zach call Matt late one Saturday night in September? Watch your paw print, meow! And it all happens LIVE! Seeq Protein Promo Link: https://www.seeqsupply.com/PATRICK52906

Two people are having a lively conversation about the contents of my latest book. This is my 100% #AI-generated podcast episode. So you can summarize any content (#scripts, #lecture notes, #specialist literature,...) and make it entertaining. ❓How does that work? Upload one or more text files to the Google NotebookLM system https://notebooklm.google.com/ (the system can also handle an entire book) Then simply click on ‘Audio Overview'. In my case, a lively 12-minute podcast was created in which two very likeable AI voices discuss the contents of the book with an exciting tone. It was fun to listen to. Restrictions? It currently works in English. I discovered a hallucination while talking about the ‘Sunbrella' chapter, i.e. human verification remains a must. Link to the book: https://artin.ai

In this episode of the Business of Boating podcast, we sit down with Bill McDaniel and Edmund Gant III, of Sunbrella, to explore the intricacies of marine textile innovation. They share their extensive experience in the industry and delve into Sunbrella's commitment to durability, performance, and sustainability. We discuss the development of groundbreaking products like the Horizon marine vinyl and performance zippers, and how Sunbrella continues to lead the market with its cutting-edge solutions. Tune in to gain valuable insights into the marine textile industry, emerging trends, and the future of marine upholstery.SunbrellaMerrill CharetteMIDA.PRO - Marine Industry Digital Agency - MarketingSupport the Show.

Welcome to "Furniture Industry News," the podcast dedicated to professionals in the home furnishings sector. Today, we explore significant trends and strategic insights from industry leaders, diving into topics ranging from market dynamics at the Interwoven fabric market to Stickley Furniture's innovative retail strategies and significant policy changes affecting the sector.Key Topics Discussed:Interwoven Fabric Market Insights:A panel discussion featuring insights from executives like Brian Burke of Crypton Mills and Sean Gibbons of STI highlighted the importance of adaptability and quality in response to changing consumer tastes and pricing pressures.Focus on the role of bold and unique designs in differentiating brands, as discussed by Ann Reynolds of Valdese Weavers, and the necessity for diversification in product offerings to meet varied consumer needs, emphasized by Suzie Roberts of Sunbrella.Stickley Furniture's Retail Strategies:Discussion on how Stickley Furniture leverages its chain of showrooms to gain consumer insights, maintaining balance in sales strategies between quick ship programs and special orders to manage uneven retail traffic, as discussed by President Edward Audi.Exploration of Stickley's strategic responses to market fluctuations, including their store enhancement plans and the move during the April 2023 market which boosted traffic significantly.Impact of the FTC's Ban on Non-Compete Agreements:Analysis of the new FTC ruling disallowing most non-compete agreements, with perspectives from industry professionals like Pat Watson of Martin Svensson and Jeff Schwall of Porter Designs on how this could affect the industry's landscape.Macy's Privatization Efforts:A deep dive into the unfolding story of Macy's privatization bid by Arkhouse Partners and Brigade Capital Management, highlighting the strategic implications and future direction of the retailer.Financial Forecasts and Strategic Adjustments:Insights into Beyond Inc.'s revised revenue forecasts and strategic market positioning, as well as Arhaus's financial performance and strategic responses to current market challenges.A look at Leon's Furniture's successful quarter, attributed to strategic product mix and operational efficiencies.Notable Quotes:"Flexibility is key in maintaining relevance in a market where trends can change with the seasons." - Brian Burke, Crypton Mills."The future belongs to those who can diversify their offerings and cater to niche markets without diluting their brand identity." - Suzie Roberts, Sunbrella."We are taking nothing for granted." - Edward Audi, Stickley Furniture.Closing Thoughts:Today's discussions underline the continuous evolution within the furniture industry, emphasizing the need for adaptability, innovation, and strategic foresight. Join us next time as we continue to provide the latest updates and insightful discussions designed to keep you informed and ahead in the furniture industry.

Summer days are getting hotter and hotter! For us humans, it's as easy as drinking a cool glass of water, lathering ourselves in sunscreen and putting up a parasol! But what about the planet? How do we keep planet earth cool! On a summer staycation to the beach, Guy and Mindy explore who, what, where, why, how and wow of Geo-Solar-Engineering a nifty new way to keep our planet cool! Originally aired 6/9/19.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

‘Tis the season for all things outdoors! This week, we welcome Kelly Petrino and Amy Jordan from Ballard's merchandising team for their expert advice on mixing and matching outdoor furniture and accessories to create beautiful and comfortable outdoor space. They talk about cushions, pillows, rugs, lighting, and planters to complete the look, along with sharing some great tips for incorporating different materials, styles, and textures to define your outdoor space. What You'll Hear On This Episode: Considerations for using outdoor fabrics like Sunbrella that are stain-resistant and fade-proof. Ideas for incorporating outdoor rugs to define spaces and add texture. Factors to consider when choosing outdoor sofas and seating, like cushion fill and frame materials. What should you look for when it comes to outdoor sofas and seating? Kelly and Amy's perspectives on the pros and cons of mixing collections versus opting for a coordinated set. Entertaining essentials such as outdoor safe drinkware, candles, romantic outdoor lighting, and lovely lamps. Mosquito-repelling drapery panels? Yes, please! Reasons to think about furniture layout in relation to your daily and entertaining needs beyond just aesthetics. Tips for defining spaces with planters. Ballard Designs 

Today on Window Treatments for Profit Today we have a What Would Lu Do show about planning ahead for 2024. Today, LuAnn goes over the last two steps of her Seven Strategies for Business Excellene in 2024. We'll cover various aspects of planning, marketing, customer service, employee training, technology, partnerships, and personal development. LuAnn Nigara's Ah-Ha Moments “It's not just about expanding your network; it's about creating synergies, tapping into new markets, and ultimately boosting your bottom line.” -LuAnn “When you join … whatever it is, you need to show up, get involved and contribute to the group. When you give, you get, this is how it works.” -LuAnn Our Favorite Links Madeleine MacRae's Home Pro Toolbox Windowworksnj.com Vitalia Inc. Exciting Windows What's new with LuAnn Nigara LuAnn University - Registration is now OPEN for the Winter 2024 semester! Watch the Docuseries! http://www.luannnigara.com/cob Purchase LuAnn's Books Here: Book 1: The Making of A Well – Designed Business: Turn Inspiration into Action Audiobook: The Making of A Well – Designed Business: Turn Inspiration into Action Book 2: A Well-Designed Business – The Power Talk Friday Experts Book 3: A Well-Designed Business – The Power Talk Friday Experts Volume 2 Connect with LuAnn Nigara LuAnn's Website LuAnn's Blog Like Us: Facebook | Tweet Us: Twitter | Follow Us: Instagram | Listen Here: Podcast Other Shows Mentioned WTFP 208: Manuela Keller and Philip McKay: Introducing 2 New Home Industry Trade Shows; Sun Shading Expo North America and R+T, Stuttgart Germany WTFP 212: Sean Martin and Tracy Greene: A Window of Opportunity with Sunbrella's New Custom Collection WTFP 52: What Would Lu Do?: 3 Strategies for Building Partnerships with Interior Designers WTFP 236: What Would Lu Do?: Create a Trade Partner Kit to Build Relationships With Interior Designers WTFP 222: What Would Lu Do?: Leveraging Industry Relationships for Success AWDB 84: Shauna Lynn Simon- How to Host a Successful Interior Design Consumer Event in Your Community AWDB 102: Power Talk Friday- Shauna Lynn Simon- Part 2- How to Host A Successful Consumer Event For Your Community AWDB 14: Malene Barnett Success Secret – Build Relationships AWDB 453: Carolyn Flannery: Impact Your Pipeline With This One Strategy AWDB 394: Carole Marcotte: Interior Designer, Retailer, Marketer AWDB 742: Power Talk Friday: Renee Gurganus: Why You Should Join the WCAA WTFP 58: Bryan Short: The Value of Business Coaching for a Window Treatment Professional WTFP 143: Vita Vygovska: Market to Interior Designers by Building Relationships WTFP 78: Georgiana Schwandt: Create the Life You Love for Your Business and Personal Life

There are many new home products I'm thankful for this year! In this episode, you'll learn:The features that make the IKEA Komplement Felt Drawer Liner a standout choice for easy and effective use in home organization.How paintable duplex outlet covers provide a convenient and aesthetic solution for coordinating with your wall colors without replacing electrical components.The advantages and variety of options offered by performance fabrics, enhancing durability and ease of maintenance in home decor.Here are the product links:1. Paintable outlet covers2. Color temperature adjustable light bulbs3. Sherwin Williams Urethane Trim Enamel4. Ikea Komplement drawer liner5. Performance fabrics - Sunbrella, Crypton, Inside Out, Perennials, Revolution6. Battery powered picture lights If you liked today's episode, please leave me a rating and review in Apple podcasts. Check out the House Calls for Physicians Website. Join the House Calls for Physicians Private Facebook Group Check us out on Instagram!

How do you manage your design business? What are your criteria for accepting a prospect as a client, and do you often turn clients away? How do you share the progress of the project with clients? How do you structure your fees and payments from clients?In this episode, Rebecca and Shaun speak with Max Humphrey to discuss:The challenges of finding the right clients and managing client relationships and expectationsHaving a flat fee structure as billing method for his design servicesDealing with clients' feedback, revisions, etcMax's product collaborations and how he got started with brands like SunbrellaTips for pitching product collectionsHaving a recognizable brand style to collaborate effectivelyTurning down clients who are not the right fit for youLearning from working for others before starting a companyManaging client expectations around budgets and timelinesUsing social media to attract the right client fitMax's book "Lodge" is about the historic lodges in America's national parksMentioned:Max Humphrey WebsiteMax Humphrey (@maxwhumphrey) on IG Max's book "Lodge" on AmazonMax Humphrey Collection | HARTMANN&FORBESMax's collection of fabrics with Sunbrella and PindlerMax's wallpaper collection with Chasing PaperOur links:Subscribe and leave a review - Apple PodcastsLike, Comment, & Follow - Hot Young Designers Club InstagramRebecca's Instagram Shaun's InstagramFor more information - Check out the websiteBecome a “Loyal Hottie” - Support us on Patreon Design Resources - Check out our shopMentioned in this episode:Pinterest MasterclassPinterest is not just for inspiration anymore. It can actually be used strategically to gain new clients! Learn more about our Pinterest for Interior Designers Masterclass at: shop.hotyoungdesignersclub.com

Today With Sean Martin and Tracy Greene: Welcome to Window Treatments for Profit. As window treatment professionals, we all know that textiles are an essential ingredient when it comes to exceptional design, comfort, and lifestyle. Today I am joined by Tracy Greene and Sean Martin for a sponsored show highlighting Sunbrella's new Custom Window Collection. This specialized line of custom, made-to-order window treatments includes drapery, Roman shades, and solar shades in 300+ fabrics that are all made in the US and feature Sunbrella's signature comfort, strength, and style. Listen now to learn more about this unique opportunity to bring Sunbrella window treatments to your designers and clients soon. Pick It Apart [2:20] Tracy explains the influences of this new collection and how the team engineered this beautiful collection for windows using a softer hand in terms of yarn and fabrics, but still keeping the performance and durability Sunbrella is known for.   [10:02] Sean talks about how there has been a whitespace, or gap, in the industry for a long time that Sunbrella is now able to fill with luxury, high-quality, performance window treatments and draperies.   [12:03] Sean and LuAnn discuss the inspiring history of Glen Raven, Sunbrella's parent company, and the importance of a commitment to company culture, and LuAnn describes her visit and factory tour.   [19:46] Sean shares details on the opportunities for compatible window-covering dealers and designers with these new Sunbrella products.   [28:06] Tracy and LuAnn discuss the advantages of Sunbrella and what makes their products stand out in the market.   [36:40] LuAnn asks Sean about the plan from Sunbrella to support the launch of this new custom window collection, and to support retailers in the launch.   LuAnn Nigara and Sean Martin and Tracy Greene's Ah-Ha Moment “There is this whitespace. People want it. They have it on their patio, they have it in their sunroom they have it on their boat that's that's parked in the marina. They love Sunbrella they're their ambassadors for the brand. So why wouldn't I want it in my windows that are getting blasted by the sun all day long?” – Sean Martin   “‘It's all the things you want from a beautiful fabric, but it actually comes across with a luxury feeling and it has that practicality that doesn't make you crazy because it is dry rot in 10 years, or the sun scorched it in two years.” – LuAnn Nigara   “I think there's something to be said about the longevity there, and that's really what our brand was built on. And I think that that adds a lot of comfort to people that are out in the marketplace buying Sunbrella, whether it's for upholstery or for draperies, knowing that they have a long-lasting performance product and that we have a care team, that we have a [research and development] team, and that we really stand behind that brand and take it very seriously.” – Tracy Greene   “You can't dabble in this business. Either you're all in, or you're not.” – Sean Martin More About Sean Martin and Tracy Greene Since 1961, Sunbrella has been a pioneer in the performance fabric industry. Building a brand on quality, innovation and thoughtful design, Sunbrella passionately believes that textiles are the most important ingredient in exceptional design, comfort and living. Sunbrella is committed to creating high-quality performance products that provide comfort for your coziest spaces, color retention for years of enjoyment, cleanability for all of life's messes, and strength that lasts. About Tracy Greene: I am a creative industry professional with an impressive twenty-five-year history in textile design and production with an innate passion for colors, textures, and innovative design. Currently, I serve as the Design Director at Sunbrella leading the design team for the window and the editor markets. About Sean Martin: As a high energy, persuasive leader, I have a track record of business turnaround, transformation, and growth, accomplished by building highly engaged top-performing sales, marketing, engineering, product management, and innovation teams. I motivate and inspire people to achieve ambitious goals by providing a clear understanding and connection between vision, strategic planning, capabilities, and what it takes to execute key initiatives. I have a breadth of product category experience—from Electrolux floorcare and Rayovac batteries to Remington personal care and custom-configured made-to-order window treatments—gained through diverse channel exposure and expanding brand footprints at major retailers, including The Home Depot, Lowes, and Walmart, to e-commerce, direct to consumer, franchise networks, and independent dealer channels. I create value for private equity owners by building brands, penetrating distribution channels, driving customer loyalty, innovating new products, and expanding margins. Connect with Sean Martin and Tracy Greene Website Instagram Facebook Pinterest RSVP to the Designing for Success panel at High Point Market! Email: customwindowdealer@sunbrella.com Other Shows Mentioned: WTFP #131: Dennese Guadeloupe-Rojas: The Logistics of Large Commercial Projects in the Window Treatments Industry   AWDB #127: Corey Damen Jenkins- Interior Designer, Furniture Designer, & Gentleman   AWDB #388: Corey Damen Jenkins: Interior Designer, Furniture Designer, & Gentleman   AWDB 549: Corey Damen Jenkins #BLM: Time to Take the Baton   AWDB #86: Andrea Schumacher – Strategies for Client Management   AWDB #275: Replay: Andrea Schumacher: Managing a Mid-Size Interior Design Firm

If you love our Lloyd Flanders outdoor furniture but you want a design refresh, top quality online retailer LOOMLAN (833-566-6526) offers an extensive line of stunning outdoor replacement cushions to take your garden areas from drab to fab. See the entire range at https://loomlan.com/collections/outdoor-replacement-cushions LOOMLAN 42512 Desoto Terrace, Brambleton, VA 20148, United States Website https://www.loomlan.com Phone +1-833-566-6526 Email operations@loomlan.com

Tinkercast Presents: Plants & The Planet Week! Summer days are getting hotter and hotter! For us humans, it's as easy as drinking a cool glass of water, lathering ourselves in sunscreen and putting up a parasol! But what about the planet? How do we keep planet earth cool! On a summer staycation to the beach, Guy and Mindy explore who, what, where, why, how and wow of Geo-Solar-Engineering a nifty new way to keep our planet cool! Want more wow? Check out Wow in the World activities at https://bit.ly/3V5YCgwSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When it comes to al fresco dining at home, you can't compromise on quality. Get a gorgeous Lloyd Flanders 5-piece patio dining set with Sunbrella cushions at LOOMLAN (833-566-6526) and see what a difference excellent craftsmanship makes. Order now athttps://loomlan.com/products/weekend-retreat-5pc-dining-table-set LOOMLAN 42512 Desoto Terrace, Brambleton, VA 20148, United States Website https://www.loomlan.com Phone +1-833-566-6526 Email operations@loomlan.com

O tom, že není jen synem slavného otce-hudebníka, ale že jeho hudební kariéra stojí na vlastních nohou, se David Žbirka snaží v poslední době přesvědčit především svým projektem Sunbrella, s nímž nedávno vydal debutové album Heartworn. A daří se mu to skutečně dobře, o čemž svědčí úspěch, s nímž projekt dosahuje především v anglicky mluvících zemích. Současně je však producentem posledního, několika Anděly oceněného alba Mekyho Žbirky, s nímž na něm začal spolupracovat ještě za jeho života. O tom, jak emocionálně náročné to bylo, ale i o snaze uspět v Anglii hovořil v dalším On Air. Podívejte se na celý rozhovor. ON AIR je talk show hudebního publicisty Pavla Kučery s hudebníky a lidmi z hudební branže. Nový díl je uveřejněn každý týden na YouTube kanálu kytary.cz. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onairtalks Přehled starších dílů zde: http://bit.ly/VsechnyOnAirRozhovory Starší díly On Air si můžete poslechnout i ve formě podcastů zde: Spotify http://bit.ly/OnAirRozhovorySpotify Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/cz/podcast/on-air #rozhovor​ #davidzbirka #mekyzbirka

Get the beautiful, upscale, and eco-friendly Weekend Retreat outdoor dining set, crafted in the USA, at top online retailer LOOMLAN. The set boasts armrest-equipped chairs, a six-seater Teak table, and Sunbrella cushions tailored to complement your patio areas. Find out more now, at https://loomlan.com/products/weekend-retreat-7-pc-teak-dining-table-set-with-wicker-dining-chairs LOOMLAN 42512 Desoto Terrace, Brambleton, VA 20148, United States Website https://www.loomlan.com Phone +1-833-566-6526 Email operations@loomlan.com

Customize your lanai with wicker seating and Sunbrella cushions from the Reflections collection. LOOMLAN offers made-to-order 3-seat sofas, glider chairs and more for your own resort-style oasis. Find out about all your lounge set alternatives at https://loomlan.com/collections/outdoor-lounge-sets LOOMLAN 42512 Desoto Terrace, Brambleton, VA 20148, United States Website https://www.loomlan.com Phone +1-833-566-6526 Email operations@loomlan.com

Are you looking for the very best outdoor dining set that is not only gorgeous, but also functional, durable, and sustainable? Then the Mackinac outdoor dining set from LOOMLAN will make all your al fresco dreams come true. Find out more at https://loomlan.com/collections/outdoor-dining-sets LOOMLAN 42512 Desoto Terrace, Brambleton, VA 20148, United States Website https://www.loomlan.com Phone +1-833-566-6526 Email operations@loomlan.com

Choosing furniture and creating a unique interior design for your STR is VERY different than furnishing a traditional "live in" home.  Learn some fresh ideas on design, furniture selection and placement that will help you "stand out" with your short term rental vacation property. We'll also jump into some great resources to help you get inspired.Support the show

Margo sits down with West Coast based photographer Christopher Dibble.Chris studied at Art Center College of Design and has spent his career photographing projects for commercial and editorial clients, designers, artists, and architects. Specializing in lifestyle interiors and portraiture, he has been interviewed by Popular Photography Magazine about his environmental portraiture and was selected as one of The Advocate's 40 under 40. His work has been featured in editorial publications including House Beautiful, Dwell, HGTV, Country Living, Entertainment Weekly, and People Magazine. He's also produced work for manufacturers including Sunbrella, The Shade Store, and Framebridge. While portraiture and interior design are considered two different photographic genres, Dibble works to combine his understanding of both with the intent of creating imagery that tells a story.   Margo and Chris discuss: How his formal education has informed and influenced his work  Why he finds community and personal connections to be so important and how they have paid off in his career How his work has evolved and how how he applied his knowledge from portraiture to interiors Imposter syndrome, the comparison trap, and how you can have appreciation for artists in your field without falling into a trap Giving yourself grace, especially when it comes to our creative businesses Why he believes in having hobbies that you're not trying to make a business out of His passion for weaving And a whole lot more   Chris' first book, Modern Americana was released in 2021 and features over 100 photographs. He is currently working on a new book with designer Karen Nepacena of Destination Eichler. He is also balancing several projects beyond his own commercial photography business including a small product photography studio creating assets for brands, a community building project focusing on artist street fairs and pop up events as well as an online boutique featuring local makers of all levels, and a personal portraiture series of large format portraits.    Mentioned in this episode: Big Magic: How to Live a Creative Life, and Let Go of Your Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert Weaving The Future: Contemporary Diné Weavers 4Kinship   Connect with Chris: christopherdibble.com www.instagram.com/dibblephoto

My Cocodona Redemption was an experience in planning, preparation, and prevention. But it was also a net sum energy equation and using the energy in the system as efficiently as possible. That meant eating, drinking, moving, resting, and sleeping on a regular rigid schedule to get the energy in and moving efficiently during the days and nights. One of the quickest ways to loose energy during the day is from solar rays.  Many of you asked, why is he wearing a hoodie and what is with the umbrella? Well, it again comes down to energy. When the sun is on your skin or blazing through your non-UPF-protected clothing your body responds to protect itself. To control your body temperature, you sweat. The cooling process requires energy and sweating leads to water and salt loss. So getting overheated and sunburnt leads to all sorts of problems. And with a 5-day race, you cannot afford to lose anything. This gear review focuses on the items I used to preserve my energy. Sunbrella - Lightrek Hiking (Chrome) Umbrella - Gossamer GearSun Hoodie - Sun-Protective Fabric Men's Hoodies | REI Co-opSun Hoodie - Search results: hoodies | Columbia SportswearSun Hoodie - Realtree CamoGloves - outdoorresearch.comVest - GOREWEARPoles - Trekking Poles | Hiking Poles | Black Diamond EquipmentBackpack - blackdiamondequipment.comRecovery - R8 Plus Deep Tissue Massage Muscle Roller | ROLL RecoverySnacks - eatbobos.comSocks - Shop All Socks | Injinji Performance ToesocksPrana Stretch Zion Pant II - prAna---Your hosts: Jessica Harris / Greg Larkin / Mike Turner Intro/outro music: Joseph McDade - Elevation: https://josephmcdade.com/music/elevationThe Mile 99 Interview is creating podcast episodes | PatreonVenmo | The Mile 99 InterviewSupport the show

Founded in 1880, Glen Raven has a deep history manufacturing fabrics of all kinds. In the 1960s it began producing a waterproof textile used for awnings under the Sunbrella brand. Over time, what was outside came in—no company has been more associated with the rise of performance fabrics than Sunbrella.On this episode of the podcast, CEO Leib Oehmig chats with host Dennis Scully about the madness of the moment—his company's products have never been more in demand, but it's never been harder to make enough of them. He also shared an inside look at how performance fabrics are made, and explained why designers are key to Sunbrella's future.   This episode is sponsored by The Bruno Effect and Coppersmith. LINKSGlen RavenSunbrellaDennis ScullyBusiness of Home

In today's episode, we're talking to Tyler Tice, of Atlanta Bed Swings. Atlanta Bed Swings is a high-end company that southern locals look to for quality outdoor products and has been creating unique wood and metal bed swings partnered with Sunbrella fabrics since 2015. Founded 20 years ago by Mike Tice, Tyler opens up about the obstacles and resiliency his family shared together as they pivoted and worked together to create their successful business. Tune in as Tyler shares this beautiful family story with us. IN THIS EPISODE:  [02:46] Tyler shares how Atlanta Bed Swings came to be [06:00] Bringing the families new and improved bed swings to the Scott's Antique Market in Atlanta [10:34] The brainchild of their kiosk portal showroom that gives consumers the experience of the products virtually [16:51] Atlanta Bed Swings partnership with Sunbrella [18:54] Tyler's experience at FSU and the entrepreneurship program [23:00] Dealing with supply-chain delays and backorders with clients KEY TAKEAWAYS:  Taking a product that already exists and thinking of ways to improve upon it can appeal to certain consumers who need a specific piece.  Innovation with technology can really help a business with physical products standout by allowing people to be able to experience the products from anywhere! LINKS MENTIONED: outdoorrooms.com/insidedesign QUOTES:  Serious quote: “The higher you wish to build, the longer you must spend time in the dirt digging the foundation.” Funny quote: “Me yelling at squirrels in the street to move so they don't die is probably the same feeling God has watching me live my life most days.” SPONSOR: This episode of Inside Design is sponsored by The Outdoor GreatRoom Company. The Outdoor GreatRoom Company are the experts in outdoor fire and making your backyard an experience. As the first company to enter the gas fire pit category, the Outdoor GreatRoom Company manufactures unique and luxury gas fire pit tables, gas fire burners, outdoor kitchen island, outdoor gas fireplaces, patio furniture and other custom products to fit your lifestyle. With a wide variety of sizes, shapes, colors and price points, the Outdoor GreatRoom Company has the perfect fire pit to fit your backyard space. If you are looking for a holiday gift, check out many styles that are currently in stock and ready to ship.  Exclusively for Inside Design listeners, the Outdoor GreatRoom Company is offering 10% off your purchase with code ID10 and free shipping on any purchase over $200. Financing is also available. Visit outdoorrooms.com/insidedesign to view all of their in- stock products.

How Ransomware, Trojanware, and Adware Hurt You. And Why ExpressVPN Isn't Safe to Use. Ransomware, Trojanware Adware. What's the difference between these different types of malware.? And when it comes down to our computers, which should we worry about the most and which should we worry about the most? [Automated Transcript Follows] [00:00:17] There are a lot of different types of malware that are out there and they're circulating and scaring us. [00:00:23] And I think for good reason, in many cases, ransomware of course, is the big one and it is up, up, up. It has become just so common. Now that pretty much everybody is going to be facing a serious ransomware attack within the next 12 months. The numbers are staggering. And what are they doing while now they're getting you with the double whammy. [00:00:50] The first whammy is they encrypt your data. Your computers are encrypted, everything on them. So you can't use them anymore. Bottom line. Yeah, they'll boot they'll run enough in order to be able for you to pay that ransom. But any document that you might care about, any PDF, any word doc, and the spreadsheet is going to be encrypted. [00:01:14] And the idea behind that is. You have to pay in order to get that decryption key about 50% of the time. Yeah. About half of the time. Even if you pay the ransom, you'll get your data back the rest of the time. No, you you'll never see it again. So what do you do about that type of ransomware? Well, obviously most people just pay the rent. [00:01:39] But that's gone up as well. We've seen over a hundred percent increase in the amount of ransom people happy. So what's the best thing to do. What's the easiest thing to do in order to help you with this type of ransomware while it's obviously to have good backups. Now I'm going to be doing a bootcamp. [00:02:00] We're going to talk about this and a workshop. I really want to get going with these one week long workshops. So we'll do a, at least a couple of times a month in these boot camps that we'll do pretty much every week here, but they're coming up fairly soon. You'll only know about them. If you are on my email list, that is Craig peterson.com and the number one thing that you can do to. [00:02:27] You when you're hit with this type of rent somewhere, because if you're not taking all of the other precautions, you should be digging under really good that you're going to get hit the better than 50%. And once you do is have a good backup, and I want to warn everybody because I've seen this again and against people just keep making this mistake, probably because they don't get it. [00:02:51] They don't understand why and where and how, when it comes to ransom. The mistake is they do a backup to a local desk. Now, many times the backup is on a thumb drive or USB drive. So you just go to the big box store. You go to Amazon, you order an external drive. You're just amazed how cheap they are. [00:03:16] Nowadays. Once you've got that drive, you plug it in. You turn on some backup software. Maybe it's something you've used for some years, maybe. If you have a Mac, you're just using the built-in backup software. Even the windows operating system now comes with some built-in backup and you think you're off and running because every so often it back. [00:03:40] If we're using a Mac is smart enough to not only back up your whole machine, but as you're editing files, it's going to go ahead and make a backup of that file as you're editing it. So if there is a crash or something else, you're not going to lose much. I just love the way apple does that. Huge problem. [00:03:59] Because if the disc is attached to your machine, or let's say that disc is on a file server, cause you're smart, right? You set up some network attached storage of some sort and your machine has access to it. And so you're sending it off of your machine to a central. Well, you still got a problem because if your machine can read or more particularly right to a location on your network or locally, that ransomware is going to also encrypt everything, it can find there. [00:04:37] So, if you are sharing a network drive and you get ransomware, when you remember the odds are better than 50%, you're gonna get it. Then what happens? What would this type of ransomware it not only encrypts the files on your computer, but encrypts them on the backup as well. And it also encrypts them on any of the. [00:04:58] File servers or network attached storage the, to have on your network. So now everything's encrypted. You wonder why someone and people pay the ransom? Oh, that's a large part of the reason right there. And I keep saying this type of ransomware because there isn't another type of ransomware and they usually go hand in hand. [00:05:21] The bad guys were not making enough money off of holding your files. Rants. So the next thing the bad guys have done is they've gone to a different type of extortion. This one is, Hey, if you don't pay us, we are going to release your files to the world. Now they might do it on a dark website. They might do it on a publicly available site, which is what many of them are starting to do now. [00:05:51] And you're going to either be embarrassed or subject to a lot of fines or both, because now if your files have. Confidential information. Let's say it's your intellectual property. Now, anybody who bothers to search online can find your intellectual property out there. If you have anything that's personally identifiable information. [00:06:18] And it gets out. Now you are subject to major fines. In fact, in some states like California and Massachusetts, you are subject to fines. Even if the bad guys don't post it online. So that's the second type of ransomware and it's a bad type. And usually what'll happen is the bad guys, get their software on your machine and they can do it in a number of different ways. [00:06:45] One of the popular ways to do it now is to just break in because. Our businesses, we've, we've set up something called remote desktop, and we're using remote desktop for our users to get in. And maybe we're using some form of a VPN to do it with, or maybe we've made the mistake of using express VPN. And, uh, we have that now connected up to our homes and we think that that's keeping us safe. [00:07:13] And I got a few things to say about that as well. These VPN services. What happens now while Microsoft remote desktop has been under major attack and there are some major flaws. Some of these were patched more than a year ago now, but according to recent studies, 60%, almost two thirds of businesses have not applied the patches. [00:07:42] You know, th this is basic stuff. And I understand how hard it can be and it can be confusing and you can break your systems, but you have to weigh that against well, what's going to happen if our systems are broken into, because we didn't apply the patch. So that's the second type of ransomware and that's what most people are afraid of and for good reason. [00:08:07] And one of the things we do for businesses and we do ransomware audits, we have a look at your systems, your firewalls, et cetera, and make recommendations to. Man. I got to talk about this too, cause it really upset me this week. I signed up for a webinar just to see what was going on. There's a company out there that sells these marketing systems to managed services providers. [00:08:33] And I, I, I had to turn it off like instantly because it was just such. Garbage that they were telling managed services providers MSPs to do. I couldn't believe it. So this guy was talking about how, again, I turned it back on and I said, Hey, I've got to watch us anyways, because I need to know what's going on. [00:08:54] And this guy was telling these managed services providers, how they can double their clothes. I couldn't believe this guy. Cause he was saying that what they do is they offer to do a ransomware audit for businesses and they say, normally we charge $6,000 to do a ransomware audit, but I tell you what we'll do it for you for. [00:09:20] Now, this is a guy that he had an MSP managed services provider. Apparently he had started it and he was bringing in more than $1 million per month in revenue. Can you imagine that monthly recurring revenue over a million dollars? And so he's telling people businesses, Hey, I have a $6,000 audit that we'll do. [00:09:47] For free, Hey people, how long have we said, if you're not paying for something your, the product remember Facebook, right? Google, Instagram, all of those guys, Twitter, you don't pay for it, but your information is the product. So what's this guy doing well, guess what? His audit, it's going to show his audit. [00:10:10] It's going to show that you need him. And he's sucked in hundreds of businesses and he didn't even know what he was doing when it came to the audits or protecting them. It is insane. What's going on out there. I am ashamed of my industry, absolutely ashamed of it. You know, I've got my first attack, successful attack against my company back in 91 92. [00:10:42] And I learned this stuff because I had to, and I help you guys because I don't want you to get stuck. Like I was so important, important word of advice. If you want to nod it, go to someone that charges you for the audit. That's going to do a real one. It's going to give you real advice that you can really need and use rather than, Hey, you knew do use me. [00:11:11] Because my free audit tells you so, so many scams. [00:11:15] What is ad where in what is crypto, where these are two types of real, kind of bad things. Won't gray areas, things that are hurting us, our mobile devices, our businesses. And our homes. [00:11:32] Adware is also a type of malware that's been around a long time. But it does live in a gray area. [00:11:42] And that gray area is between basically marketing and, uh, well outright fraud. And I don't even want to call it just marketing because it's very aggressive market. What they will do with add where is they? They will have some JavaScript code or something else that's embedded on a webpage, and that's usually how you get it. [00:12:09] And then once it's in, in your browser, it sits there and it pops up things. So it'll pop up an ad for this, pop up an ad for that, even if it's. Uh, part of the site that you're on right now, and it can live for months or years on your computer. We've known for a long time about ad where on the windows environment and how it has just been just terribly annoying at the very least Microsoft and genetic Explorer. [00:12:40] One of the worst web browsers ever. Perpetrated on humankind was well-known for this. And of course, Microsoft got rid of internet Explorer, and then they came up with her own symposer browser, the edge browser that was also openly scorned. And so Microsoft got rid of their edge browser and switched over to basically Google Chrome chromium, and then changed his name to the edge browser. [00:13:11] And so you think you're running edge, but you're kind of not, you kind of are. So they did all of that in order to help with compatibility and also to help with some of these problems that people have had using that Microsoft browser online, very, very big problems. So what can you do about it and what does it do to you and where can be very. [00:13:37] You might've had it before words always popping up again and again and again on your browser, just so crazy knowing it it's insane, but it can also be used to spy on where you're going online and potentially to, to infect you with something even worse. Sometimes some of this ad where we'll purposely click on ads, that the people who gave you the ad were, are using as kind of like a clickbait type thing. [00:14:09] So you go to a website and it was. Automatically click certain ads and click on unbeknownst to you, right? It's as though you went there so that people have to pay for that ad. And sometimes aids are very, very complicated. Sometimes they'll use. In order to drive a competitor out of business or out of the market, because the ads are so expensive because so many people are supposedly clicking on the ads. [00:14:40] But in reality, you didn't click on the ad. You're not going to see that page that you supposedly clicked on, and it's going to cost that advertiser money, whole bunch of money. You might not care. Right. But it is. Ad ware over on the Mac, however, is the only real malware menace at all I had to where is something that choosed fairly frequently on the Mac? [00:15:09] It is pretty darn easy to get rid of. And as a general rule, it doesn't work very well on the Mac. Although I have seen some cases where it got very, very sticky. Where someone ended up installing it, it wasn't just running in the browser, but they installed it on their Mac, which is something you should never do. [00:15:29] But apple has some things in place to help stop any of this from happening. And it's gotten a lot better. I haven't seen this problem in a couple of years, but apple is using the signature based blocking technology called export. They also have at apple, this developer based notarization of apps. And so the run of the mill malware, which includes most of this Al where really can't find a foothold. [00:15:57] But I want to remind everybody that if they can get Al add where onto your computer, they might be able to get something worse. So you really got to keep an eye out for no two ways about it. There are some companies out there, for instance, there's this one. Parrot, which is a program linked to this Israeli marketing firm that gains persistence on your browser and potentially could gain root access to the Mac system. [00:16:30] So careful, careful on all fronts now. Anti-malware stuff that we use for our clients is called amp, which is an advanced malware protection system. That's been developed by our friends over at Cisco it's amp is very, very good. Unfortunately, you cannot get it unless you buy it from somebody like us and you have to buy so many seats for some of this stuff, it gets gets expensive quickly. [00:17:00] Um, if you can't do that much, a lot of people like Malwarebytes, there are some very good things about it, but be careful because in order for this to work, this is Railey parrot software to work. It has a fake install. So again, it's just be careful if you know how apple installed software, you know that unless you have instigated it, it's not going to be installed. [00:17:30] You're not just going to see an installer. And say, Hey, we're apple install us. Right? Apple just does it in the background when it comes to updates patches. But they're very sneaky here trying to install things like the Adobe floor. Player, which has been deprecated. Deprecated is completely now gone from Mac systems and from windows systems, you should not be using flash at all anymore. [00:18:02] It was very, very bad. So up becomes you, you go to wound stole the leaders flash player, or, and I'm sure they're going to change this or something else, right? It won't be flashed in a future. It'll be a Adobe. Would you also don't need on a Mac. So anyhow, that's what you got to be careful of ad were still a big problem in windows. [00:18:25] Not much as much as it used to be. Uh, thanks to the change to Google Chrome, which Microsoft has rebranded as of course its own edge browser. Much of a problem at all on Macs, but be very, very careful in either platform about installing software that you did not start installing. Now earlier this year, there's a security firm called red Canary that found something that's been named silver Sparrow. [00:18:58] That was on a. 30,000 Mac computers. And apparently the developers for this malware had already adapted it to apples and one chip architecture and have distributed this binary, this program as a universal binary. Now in the macro, the member doesn't just use Intel. It used to use power PCs and then it used Intel. [00:19:21] And now it's using its own architecture for the chips themselves. So a universal binary is something that will run on Mac Intel based and Mac architecture base. But, uh, the bottom line is that this proof of concept. Malware, if you will had no payload. So we know it's out there, we seen it now on almost 30,000 Mac computers, but at this point it's not really doing much, much at all. [00:19:53] So. These are malicious search engine results and they're directing victims to download these PKGs, which are Mac packaged format installers based on network connections from your browser shortly before download. So just be very careful about all of that. It can be something as annoying as malware or something as a malicious. [00:20:17] Well, potentially as ransomware. Particularly if you're running windows, Hey, if you want to find out more about this, if you want to get into some of my free courses here, we got free boot camps coming up. Make sure you go to Craig peterson.com/subscribe. More than glad to send you my show notes, a little bit of training, and of course, let you attend these free bootcamps that are now to sell you stuff, but solve problems for you. [00:20:49] Hey, if you use VPNs to try and keep yourself safe, particularly if you use express VPN. Wow. What just came out is incredible. It is anything but safe and secure. [00:21:06] Express VPN was purchased by a company called Cape K A P E. Cape is a company that had changed its name because oh, things were bad. [00:21:19] Right. It was originally founded under the name of cross writer. And you might've seen notices from your anti-malware software over the years for everything from Malwarebytes on saying that, oh, it blew up. To this cross writer piece of malware, most of the time it's ad ware, but it is really interesting to see because this company was founded by a person who was part of the Israeli secret service. Right? So it wasn't of course not. It's not called the secret service over there in Israel. And it, frankly, it compares to our NSA, you know, no such agency. Yeah. It's part of unit 8,200 in the Israeli intelligence military. And it's been dubbed, of course, Israel's NSA. Teddy Saggy, which was one of these investors also was mentioned in the Panama papers. [00:22:24] Remember those? We talked about those back in 2016, those were leaked and that showed these law firm, this one particular law firm in panel. And that we're sheltering assets for people all over the world. And so now that express VPN is owned by this company that is, this company built entirely by intelligence agents for almost a billion. [00:22:55] Dollars in cash and stock purchases. That's a much, they sold express VPN for almost a billion dollars, which is kind of crazy when you think of it as a VPN service, but makes a lot of sense. If you're going to want to monitor what people are doing, where they're going, maybe even break into their systems or better choice than a VPN provider and the. [00:23:20] The company has been buying up VPN providers and is now the proud owner of express VPN. If you attended my VPN workshop that I had, oh, it's probably been a year and I'm going to start doing these again. I promise, I promise. I promise, but you know how much I just like VPNs. In fact, one of you guys, I'm sorry, I forgot your name. [00:23:46] Send me. A couple of weeks ago now about VPNs and saying, I know how much you disliked VPN look at this article. And it was talking about this whole thing with express VPN. So they just now all over the place, the discussions online about what. Been to hear who the founder was, the CEO, the CTO, this growing portfolio that they have in Sunbrella of ownerships, that now is centralized in a multiple VPNs. [00:24:15] Now, Cape technology only started acquiring VPN companies about four years ago. And they've been in business now for over a decade. And what were they doing before? They started buying VPN companies? While they own VPN companies. Oh, they were a major manufacturer and distributor of. Malware of varying types. [00:24:40] Now the first part of the show today, of course, I was explaining some of the differences, like ad words, et cetera, so that you could understand this story. Right? Ghulja that? So you can understand this. That's what these guys have been doing. It's absolutely crazy. So the F the co-founder of Cape technology and former CEO started his career in information technologies while serving in the Israeli defense forces. [00:25:08] As I mentioned, Israeli intelligence Corps under unit 8,200 it's that unit is responsible for. Dean what's called signal intelligence and data decryption. Now we have signal intelligence here as well, and that's basically intercepting signals, figuring out what's being said, what's going on? Where they are, the size of the forces, et cetera. [00:25:32] I have a friend of mine, a young lady who is in signal intelligence in, I think it's the Navy, but every part of our military has it is. However, our military doesn't directly control VPM services like express VPN that can be used in a very big spike capacity. That's what I'm really concerned about. Now. I also, I found an interesting article on zero hedge about this, uh, you know, this company express, VPN being acquired. [00:26:06] But they're also pointing out that companies that were founded by former operatives of unit 8,200. That again, the Israeli version of the NSA included. Ways Elbit systems, which is right in my hometown of Merrimack, New Hampshire and slews of other startups now ways. Right. I, I used ways I recommended people to use it and of course, Google bought it a few years back and that's when I stopped using it, but it was really nice. [00:26:39] It worked really well. And I had no idea the information was likely going to. The Israeli defense Corps. Oh my goodness. There's spy agencies, uh, and a bunch of other startups, by the way. It's estimated that there have been over 1000 stack tech startups that came out of the people working at unit 8,208. [00:27:07] Again, they're CIA NSA, uh, guys, their spine on everybody. You can, you believe that? And they've been bought by a mentioned Google, but other companies like Kodak, PayPal, Facebook, Microsoft have bought them. So in addition to the thousands of companies, according to zero. Uh, unit 8,200 has also fostered close working relationship with the U S government, which you would expect, right? [00:27:33] Edward Snowden. You remember him? He disclosed leaked documents. He obtained, which included an agreement between the NSA and the Israeli defense force. The agreement showed that the U S intelligence. Agency would share information. It collected under domestic surveillance operations with it. Israeli counterpart. [00:27:53] You remember we talked before about the five eyes, seven eyes searching eyes. It's up in the twenties. Now these countries that spy on each other citizens. For the other countries, right? Yeah. Your information might not be collected by the U S government, but the U S government gets it by buying it from private contractors, which it says it can do because we're only barred from collecting it ourselves. [00:28:17] We can use private contractors that collected on you. And also by going in partnership with foreign government. Because again, we can't collect that information, but we can certainly have the Israelis or, or the Brits or the Australians or Canada. They could collect it from. Can you believe this, how they're just stretching these rules to fit in what they want to fit. [00:28:39] Okay. Completely ignoring not only the constitution, but the laws of the United States. It's, it's just absolutely incredible. So critics of this unit, Eddy 200 attested that the Israeli intelligence outfit routinely uses the data received from the NSA by providing it to. Politicians Israeli politicians for the basics of blackmailing. [00:29:06] Yes. Blackmailing others. Yes. Indeed. Other whistle blowers have revealed any two hundreds operations have been able to disrupt Syrian air defense systems, hack Russia. Cap Kaspersky labs. You remember I told you guys don't use Kaspersky antivirus and has outfitted several Israeli embassies with Glendale, seen surveillance systems, cleanse Stein. [00:29:31] However you want to pronounce it. By the time Cape technologies acquired his first VPN company. Uh, the CE original CEO had left and he went on to found cup pie before leaving as it CEO in 2019, it goes on and on, uh, bottom line gas, SWAT express VPN, which is advertised by so many conservatives. Now looks like it is actually part of a spy operation. [00:30:01] So sign up now. Craig peterson.com. Craig peterson.com/subscribe. You're going to want to attend my free VPN webinar. Hey, I don't have anything to sell you when it comes to VPNs. I just want you to know the truth. [00:30:17] Labor shortages are making businesses turn direction. And now that we're laying off people or firing them because they didn't take the jab, what are businesses going to do? Well, I have news for you that reduced workforce, well, guess what?. [00:30:34] U.S. Businesses are really seriously moving to automation. [00:30:39] Now they've been doing this since the start of this whole lockdown. They were doing it even before then. I tell the story of when I was in France, a boom went four or five years ago now, and I stayed off the beaten path. I was not in the touristy areas. I speak French. So I went just where the. I decided to go, my wife and I, so we rented a car and we spent a month just kind of driving around where do we want to go next to, or do we want to go next? [00:31:08] It was a whole lot of fun. And while we were there on a Sunday, I came to realize that these small French towns have no restaurants open on Sunday, nothing at all, talking about a bit of a culture shock. That's not true. There was one restaurant opened in the town and that restaurant was, and McDonald's. [00:31:30] So when I go to McDonald's here a few years ago in France, central France. And when I walk in, there's nobody at the counter, but they're all. Oh, half a dozen kiosks out front. So you go and you order your hamburger, whatever might be, or your drinks, et cetera, right there in the kiosk, you pay for them riding the kiosk. [00:31:53] And there's some people working out back that are then making the hamburgers or the milkshakes or coffee, whatever you ordered and bringing it up to the front. And then they just put her right there for you to grab that simple. And this was of course, pre. Down days, I assume that it has gone even more automated. [00:32:14] Uh, they're in France, but hard to say. And I've seen the same thing here in the us. I was out in Vermont just about a month ago and I was riding with a buddy of mine, motorcycle riding, couple of buddies, actually. And we stopped in this small. Town. And we went to this little breasts, breakfast restaurant and the breakfast restaurant had maybe four or five tables inside. [00:32:42] And you just sat at the table. No waitress came up, but there's little sign with the QR code. So it said a scan, the QR code to get started. So you scanned it, it knew based on the QR code, which table you were at, and it showed you the menu that was in effect right then and there. So the lunch menu or the breakfast or the all day, you got to pick it and then you selected what you wanted. [00:33:08] It used whatever payment you wanted. I used apple pay. And in order to pay for my breakfast and my buddy ordered what he wanted. And then out came a waitress who delivered the food. Once it was already in the drinks, it was very automated. It allowed them to cut back on some people and others, this small restaurant, they probably had one last waitress, but when you kind of had in the shifts. [00:33:33] Days and vacation days is probably two waitresses. So they're saving some serious money because a system like this that you just scan a QR code and do the order and it prints up in the kitchen is cheap compared to hiring. Well, of course, it's hard to hire people, especially in the restaurant industry nowadays heck and in my business where we go in and we do analysis of computer networks and systems, it's almost impossible to find people that are really well qualified that understand the regulations that apply to these different businesses. [00:34:10] So it's like, forget about it. There's more than a million of these jobs open right now. And just in this cybersecurity. Well, September mark, the end of the real lockdown induced unemployment benefits workers. Didn't just flood the labor market as we kind of expected. And we have now few, we have more people now. [00:34:38] Who are out of the workforce. Who've decided not to look for a job than we did in 2008. So that's telling you something 2008 during the great recession. Interesting things are about to happen, but there's a great little article that I found in. Times this week, and it's talking about this quality local products company out of Chicago, the prince logos on merchandise, like t-shirts water bottles, you know, the little stress balls, all of that sort of stuff. [00:35:10] And he said prior to the pandemic, we had over 120 employees. That's the co-founder talk in there. And he said, Primary focus was on growth. We simply plugged any holes or any efficiencies that we could along the way with human capital, bringing people in. But once the lockdown happened, of course, all of a sudden now you don't have the access to employees you had before. [00:35:36] So they had a huge decrease also in business. So those two went hand in hand. They let a lot of people go and they use the opportunity to program many of the previous manual and human controlled activities into computers. So now 18 months later, yeah, two weeks to flatten the curve. Right? 18 months later, the company employees, 83 workers. [00:36:03] And as managing a workload, that's pretty much the same as pre lockdown. So they went from over 120 employees down to 83. So basically they cut 40 employees from the workforce. That's a whole lot of quarter of the workforce gone. They don't need them anymore. So that's going to help produce more profits for them. [00:36:27] A lot more profits. Cause usually automating. Yeah, it can be painful, but it usually has major paybacks and that's exactly what it had for them. And they're saying that they anticipate that they can reduce employees even more by the end of this year and get their head count below. 50 now 50 is a magic number. [00:36:48] So it was a hundred when it comes to employees. Well, one is like the biggest magic number because when, once you have one employee, you all of a sudden have to comply with all kinds of rules, regulations, state, local, federal. But if you hit 50 employees, you have the next step of major new regulations that are gonna affect your business. [00:37:09] And then when you hit a hundred employees, Even more, so many people try and keep their businesses below 50 employees because it's just not worth it to have all of those regulations, additional regulation, taxes, and everything else. Another company, this is a California based property management. The managing more than 90,000 commercial and residential properties. [00:37:33] And what they've done is they added a chat feature to the website, the company's called sea breeze. And he says, even though we have the live chat, you can still reach us outside of business hours. Well, You are using the chat or you can call us either way, but they're saying people like the simple form and someone gets back to them as soon as they can. [00:37:57] So they're avoiding now having staff available 24 7 to respond to chat messages and to respond to the voicemails and phone calls that come in. So it's pretty good all the way around, frankly, new shopping models are in place. I'm looking at a picture of a business and it has. Of course, a window up front and in the window they have jewelry. [00:38:21] This is a jewelry store and they've got QR codes in front of each of these pieces of jewelry right on the inside of the window. So if you're interested in finding out more about that piece of jewelry, Just scan the QR code. It'll take you to the right page on their website and we'll even let you buy the jewelry and they will mail it to you again. [00:38:46] How's that for? Great. If you have a business in a tourist jury area and you don't want to be open until 11:00 PM at night, your story can keep selling for you. Even when you're close. This is window shopping, taken to an extreme, very simple. To do as well. This company is called full me waiter. Obviously they've got a bit of a sea theme here. [00:39:10] So once someone orders the jewelry and the other merchandise sent right to them, or they can have it set for pickup in the store, when they next open it's phenomenal. They're calling. Alfresco shopping space, right from the sidewalk. So businesses again are returning to pre pandemic levels and he, this guy is available in the store by appointment only he's loving it. [00:39:37] And he says that customers have been so satisfied with this QR code window shopping contract. That he wrote a guidebook. You can get it@scantshopsolution.com or excuse me, scan, just shop solution.com. I misread that. So any retailers who want to use this method, if you don't know what QR codes are, or you don't know how to code it into a website, et cetera, she's got webinars she's taught on it and she's got the guide book. [00:40:05] I think this is great. Right? So she's now making some money on. Explain to other people, how she did this. It's phenomenal across industries. Epic times is saying the staffing shortages could be temporary, but as firms are further embracing, embracing automation and all of its benefits, some of these jobs that people just don't want anymore may actually be going away. [00:40:33] And I think this is ultimately a problem. We had, uh, you know, again, I'm older generation, right? Us baby boomers. We had opportunities when we were younger. I had newspaper routes. I had the biggest drought in the area. I can't remember. It was like 120 homes. It was huge. It took me hours to do, but I made money. [00:40:56] I learned how to interact with people. I knew, I learned how to do bill collection, how important it was not to let customers get too far behind on their bills. Although I have been slack on that one, I'm afraid, but it helped me out a lot. So, what are kids going to do that need to learn a work ethic that need to be able to have a job, make the mistakes, maybe get fired a once or twice or, or three times maybe learn how to interact with customers. [00:41:27] Everyone, I think can benefit from some retail experience. Get that when you're young and if these jobs don't exist, then. Or the younger generations here, are they just going to be trying to find jobs they can do with Instagram? Right? They're all I know. A few kids who have said, well, I'm a social media influencer and you look them up and okay. [00:41:50] So they got a thousand people following them. I have far more than that, but you know, it, that's not a job. It's not going to last. Your looks are only going to last so long. Right now you start having a family and you start working hard outdoors, et cetera. There's a lot of things that make that all go away. [00:42:09] So I think many businesses now we're going to continue to accelerate our plans program out and. A lot of weld pain positions, as well as these entry-level positions in the next five or 10 years. Really? I don't even know if it's going to be 10 years retool retrain our workforce, or everyone's going to be in for a world of hurt. [00:42:33] Hey, make sure you subscribe. So you're not in a world of hurt. Get my latest in news, especially tech news and cybersecurity. Craig peterson.com. [00:42:46] In this day and age, if you don't have a burner identity, you are really risking things from having your identities stolen through these business, email compromises. It's really crazy. That's what we're going to talk about. [00:43:03] An important part of keeping ourselves safe in this day and age really is con to confuse the hackers. The hackers are out there. They're trying to do some things. For instance, like business, email compromise. It is one of the biggest crimes out there today. You know, you hear about ransomware and. It hits the news legitimately. [00:43:26] It's very scary. It can really destroy your business and it can hurt you badly. If you're an individual you don't want ransomware. Well, how about those emails that come in? I just got an email in fact, from a listener this week and they got a phone call. His wife answered and it was Amazon on the phone and Amazon said, Hey, listen, your account's been hacked. [00:43:54] We need to clear it up so that your identity doesn't get stolen. And there's a fee for this. It's a $500 fee. And what you have to do is just go to amazon.com. Buy a gift card and we'll then take that gift card number from you. And we'll use that as the fee to help recover your stolen information. So she went ahead and did it. [00:44:20] She went ahead and did all of the things that the hackers wanted and now they had a gift card. Thank you very much. We'll follow up on this and. Now she told her husband, and of course this isn't a sex specific thing, right. It could have happened to either one. My dad fell for one of these scams as well. [00:44:44] So she told her husband or her husband looked at what had happened and said, oh my gosh, I don't think this is right. Let me tell you, first of all, Amazon, your bank, various credit card companies are not going to call you on the phone. They'll send you a message right. From their app, which is usually how I get notified about something. [00:45:10] Or they will send an email to the registered to email that. Uh, that you set up on that account. So that email address then is used by them to contact you right. Pretty simple. Or they might send you a text message. If you've registered a phone for notifications, that's how they contact you. It's like the IRS. [00:45:35] I was at a trade show and I was on the floor. We were exhausted. And I got no less than six phone calls from a lady claiming to be from the IRS and I needed to pay right away. And if I didn't pay right away, they were going to seize everything. And so all I had to do. Buy a gift card, a visa gift card, give her the number and she would use that to pay the taxes it and this lady had a, an American accent to one that you would recognize. [00:46:10] I'm sure. And it's not something that they do now. They do send emails, as I said. So the part of the problem with sending emails is, is it really them? Are they sending a legitimate email to a legitimate email address? Always a good question. Well, here's the answer. Yeah, they'll do that. But how do you know that it isn't a hacker sending you the email? [00:46:42] It can get pretty complicated. Looking into the email headers, trying to track. Where did this come from? Which email servers did it go through? Was it authenticated? Did we accept? Did the, uh, the provider use proper records in their DNS, the SPIF, et cetera, to make sure that it's legitimate. Right? How do you follow up on that? [00:47:07] That's what we do for our clients. And it gets pretty complicated looking at DKMS and everything else to verify that it was legitimate, making sure that the email came from a registered MX server from the, the real center. There is a way around this. And this has to do with the identities, having these fake burner identities. [00:47:33] I've been doing this for decades myself, but now it's easy enough for anybody to be able to do. There are some services out there. And one of the more recommended ones. And this is even the New York times, they have an article about this. They prefer something called simple log-in. You can find them online. [00:47:57] You can go to simple login dot I O. To get started now it's pretty darn cool. Cause they're using, what's called open source software it's software. Anybody can examine to figure out is this legitimate or not? And of course it is legitimate, but, uh, they it's, it's all out there for the whole world to see. [00:48:17] And that means it's less likely in some ways to be hacked. There are people who argue that having open source software means even more. In some ways you are, but most ways you're not, anyways, it doesn't matter. Simple login.io. Now, why would you consider doing this? Uh, something like simple login? Well, simple login is nice because it allows you to create dozens and dozens of different email address. [00:48:51] And the idea is with simple log-in it will forward the email to you at your real email address. So let's say you're doing some online shopping. You can go ahead and set up an email address for, you know, whatever it is, shopping company.com, uh, that you're going to use a shopping company.com. So you'd go there. [00:49:13] You put in two simple log-in, uh, I want to create a new identity and you tag what it's for, and then you then go to some, um, you know, shopping company.com and use the email address that was generated for you by simple login. Now you're a simple login again. Is it going to be tied into your real email account, wherever that might be if using proton mail, which is a very secure email system, or if using outlook or heaven forbid Gmail or one of these others, the email will be forwarded to you. [00:49:52] You will be able to see that indeed that email was sent to your. Shopping company.com email address or your bank of America, email address, et cetera, et cetera, that makes it much easier for you to be able to tell, was this a legitimate email? In other words, if your bank's really trying to get ahold of you, and they're going to send you an email, they're going to send you an email to an address that you use exclusive. [00:50:22] For bank of America. In reality, you only have the one email box that is over there on wherever proton, mail, outlook, Gmail, your business. You only have that one box you have to look at, but the email is sent to simple login. Does that make sense? You guys, so you can create a, these alias email boxes. It will go ahead and forward. [00:50:49] Any emails sent to them, to you, and you'll be able to tell if this was indeed from the company, because that's the only place that you use that email address. That makes it simple, but you don't have to maintain dozens or hundreds of email accounts. You only have the one email account. And by the way, you can respond to the email using that special aliased email address that you created for the shopping company or bank of America or TD or whomever. [00:51:22] It might be, you can send from that address as well. So check it out online, simple log-in dot IO. I really liked this idea. It has been used by a lot of people over, out there. Now here's one other thing that it does for you, and this is important as well. Not using the same email address. Everywhere means that when the hackers get your email address from shopping company.com or wherever, right. [00:51:56] pets.com, you name it. They can not take that and put it together with other information and use that for business, email compromise. Does that make sense? It's it makes it pretty simple, pretty straightforward. Don't get caught in the whole business email compromise thing. It can really, really hurt you. [00:52:19] And it has, it's one of the worst things out there right now, dollar for dollar it's right up there. It, by the way is one of the ways they get ransomware into your systems. So be very careful about that. Always use a different email address for every. Website you sign up for. Oh, and they do have paid plans like a $30 a year plan over at simple IO will get you unlimited aliases, unlimited mailboxes, even your own domain name. [00:52:50] So it makes it pretty simple, pretty handy. There's other things you might want to do for instance, use virtual credit cards. And we'll talk about those a little bit. As well, because I, I think this is very important. Hey, I want to remind everybody that I have started putting together some trainings. [00:53:12] You're going to get a little training at least once a week, and we're going to put all of that into. We have been calling our newsletter. I think we might change the name of it a little bit, but you'll be getting those every week. And the only way to get those is to be on that email list. Go to Craig peterson.com/subscribe. [00:53:35] Please do that right. I am not going to harass you. I'm not going to be one of those. And I've never been one of those internet. Marketers is sending you multiple dozens of emails a day, but I do want to keep you up to date. So stick around, we will be back here in just a couple of minutes. And of course you're listening to Craig Peterson. [00:53:59] And again, the website, Craig peterson.com stick around because we'll be right back. [00:54:05] One of the best ways to preserve your security on line is by using what we're calling burner identities, something that I've been doing for more than 30 years. We're going to talk more about how to do that right. [00:54:20] We've talked about email and how important that is. I want to talk now about fake identities. Now, a lot of people get worried about it. It sounds like it's something that might be kind of sketchy, but it is not to use fake identities in order to confuse the hackers in order to make it. So they really can't do the things that they. [00:54:46] To do they can't send you fishing ear emails, particularly spear phishing emails. That'll catch you off guard because you're using a fake. How do you do that? Well, I mentioned to you before that I have a thousands of fake identities that I created using census data. And I'm going to tell you how you can do it as well. [00:55:13] Right? There's a website out there called fake name a generator. You'll find it online@fakenamegenerator.com. I'm on that page right now. And I'm looking at a randomly generated identity. It has the option right on this page to specify the sex. And it says random by default, the name set, I chose American the country United States. [00:55:44] So it is applying both American and Hispanic names to this creative. And now remember it's doing the creation based on census data and some other public data, but it is not giving you one identity of any real. I think that's important to remember, and you're not going to use these identities for illegal purposes. [00:56:11] And that includes, obviously when you set up a bank account, you have to use your real name. However, you don't have to use your. If you will real email address, you can use things like simple login that will forward the email to you, but we'll let you know who was sent to. And if you only use that one email address for the bank, then you know that it came from the bank or the email address was stolen from the bank. [00:56:40] Right. All of that stuff. We've talked about that already. So in this case, The name has come up with for me is Maurice D St. George in Jacksonville, Florida even gives an address, uh, in this case it's 36 54 Willis avenue in Jacksonville, Florida. So if I go right now, Uh, two, I'm going to do use Google maps and I am going to put in that address. [00:57:11] Here we go. Jacksonville willows avenue, all the guests. What there is a Willis avenue in Jacksonville, and it's showing hoes from Google street view. Let me pull that up even bigger. And there it is. So ta-da, it looks like it gave me. Fairly real address. Now the address it gave me was 36 54, which does not exist. [00:57:40] There is a 365, but anyways, so it is a fake street address. So that's good to know some, if I were to use this, then I'm going to get my. Uh, my mail saying why about I pass? So, uh, Maurissa tells you what Maurice means, which is kind of neat. It'll give you a mother's maiden name. Gremillion is what a gave me here, a social security number. [00:58:06] So it creates one that passes what's called a check sum test. So that if you put it into a computer system, it's going to do a real quick check and say, yeah, it looks. To me. So it's was not just the right number of digits. It also passes the check, some tasks. Well-known how to do a check sum on their social security numbers. [00:58:27] So again, it's no big deal. And remember, you're not going to use this to defraud anyone. You're going to use this for websites that don't really need to know, kind of give me a break. Why do you need all this information? It gives me a phone number with the right area code. Uh, and so I'm going to go ahead and look up this phone number right now. [00:58:50] Remember, use duck, duck go. Some people will use Google search and it says the phone number gave me is a robo call. As I slide down, there's some complaints on that. Uh, so there you go. So they giving us a phone number that is not a real person's phone number, country code, of course one, cause I said United state birth date. [00:59:13] Oh, I was born October 7th, year, 2000. I'm 20 years old. And that means I'm a Libra. Hey, look at all this stuff. So it's giving me an email address, which is a real email address that you can click to activate or right there. Again, I mentioned the simple login.io earlier, but you can do a right here and it's got a username and created for me a password, which is actually a pretty deep. [00:59:41] The password. It's a random one, a website for me, my browser user agent, a MasterCard, a fake MasterCard number with an expiration and a CVC to code all of this stuff. My height is five six on kind of short for. Uh, my weight is 186 pounds own negative blood type ups tracking number Western union number MoneyGram number. [01:00:11] My favorite color is blue and I drive a 2004 Kia Sorento and it also has a unique ID. And, uh, you can use that wherever you want. So the reason I brought this up again, it's called fake name generator.com is when you are going to a website where there is no legal responsibility for you to tell them the true. [01:00:39] You can use this. And so I've, I've used it all over the place. For instance, get hub where you have, uh, it's a site that allows you to have software projects as you're developing software. So you can put stuff in, get hub. Well, they don't know to know, need to know who I really am. Now they have a credit card number for me. [01:01:01] Because I'm on a paid plan. I pay every month, but guess what? It isn't my real credit card number. It isn't the number that I got from fake name generator. My credit card company allows me to generate either a single use credit card numbers, or in this case, a credit card. Number four, get hub doc. So just as an example, that's how I use it. [01:01:24] So if get hub gets hacked, the hackers have an email address and a name that tipped me off right away, where this is coming from. And if the email didn't come from GitHub by no, they either sold my information to a marketing company, or this is a hacker. Trying to manipulate me through some form of his fishing scheme. [01:01:47] So I know you guys are the breasts and best and brightest. A lot of you understand what I'm talking about and I'm talking about how you can create a burner identity. And let me tell you, it is more important today to create a burner identity. Then it has ever been at any point in the past because frankly burner identities are one of the ways that you can really mess up some of the marketing firms out there that are trying to put the information together, these data aggregator companies, and also the hackers. [01:02:24] And it's really the hackers that were off up against here. And we're trying to prevent them from. Getting all of this information. So when we come back, I want to talk about the next step, which is which credit cards can you get? These single use card numbers from? Should you consider using PayPal when my Google voice be a really good alternative for you? [01:02:52] So we're going to get into all of that stuff. Stick around in the meantime, make sure you go to Craig peterson.com/subscribe. Get my newsletter. All of this. Is in there. It makes it simple. It's a simple thing to do. Craig peterson.com. And if you have any questions, just email me M e@craigpeterson.com. [01:03:20] Having your credit card stolen can be a real problem for any one of us. It gives the bad guys, a lot of options to spend a lot of money very quickly. We're going to talk right now about virtual credit cards. What are they, what does it mean? [01:03:37] Virtual credit cards come in two basic forms. [01:03:41] One is a single use credit card, which was quite popular back when these things first came out and another one is a virtual credit card that has either a specific life. In other words, it's only good for 30 days or that can be used until you cancel it. If you have a credit card, a visa, MasterCard, American express discover all of the major card issuers will give you the ability to reverse any charges that might come onto your cards. [01:04:19] If your card is stolen or missing. Now that makes it quite easy. Doesn't it? I want to point out that if you're using a debit card, as opposed to a credit card, there's not much challenging you can do with the credit card. You can say, I am not going to make my pain. And, uh, because of this, that, and the other thing, this was stolen, et cetera, they can file it as a disputed charge. [01:04:46] They can do an investigation find out. Yeah. I'm you probably were not at a bus terminal down in Mexico city, which happened to me. 'cause I was up here in New Hampshire, quite a ways down to Mexico city. And so they just reversed it out. That money never came out of my bank account because it was on a credit card. [01:05:08] If I were using a debit card. That money would have come right out of my account. Now, mind you, a bus ticket in Mexico city is not very expensive, but many people have had charges of many thousands of dollars. And if you need that money in your checking account, and you're using a debit card, you got a problem because your check for, well, if you ever have to pay rent again, red check is going. [01:05:38] Bound because they just empty it out to your bank account. So now you have to fight with the bank, get the money back. They will, they will eventually refund it, but it could make some of you. Transactions that you might've written a check or something, it'll make them bounce. And that could be a real problem. [01:05:57] These, it could make them bounce. So using a credit card is typically less of a hassle online. So why would you want to use a virtual card or also known as a master credit card? Masked and may S K E D? Well, the main reason behind this is to allow you. Control payment. I've used them. In fact, I use them exclusively on every website online. [01:06:29] And I'm going to tell you the names of some of them here in just a couple of minutes, but I use them all of the time. And part of the reason is let's say, I want to camp. Uh, service. Have you ever tried to cancel a service before and you have to call them many times, right. And so you're, you're arguing with somebody overseas somewhere who doesn't want you to close the account. [01:06:53] And of course the. Bump you up to the next level person who also doesn't want you to close the account. And so you have to fuss fuss, fuss, fuss. Have you ever had that experience and I'm sure you have. It just happens all the time. So with using the virtual credit card, Well, the advantage to me is, Hey, if you are going to try and fight with me, I don't care because I'm just going to cancel that credit card number. [01:07:24] So I don't have to cancel my credit card. I don't have to have the company reissue credit card for me. I don't have to do any of this sort of thing that makes my life pretty easy. Doesn't it? And so, because of that, I am now I think in a much better. Place, because it just, I don't have to fight with people anymore. [01:07:43] So that's one of the reasons I used it. The other big reason is if it gets stolen, they can cause less harm. Some of these credit card it's virtual credit cards are set up in such a way that you can limit the amount that's charged on them. Do you like that? So if you are using it on a site that maybe is charging you $50 a month, no problem. [01:08:09] $50 a month comes off of the credit card. And if someone tries to charge more bounces and then hopefully you find out, wait a minute, it just bounced on me right now. Then next step up is okay. It bounced and. Uh, I am just going to cancel the card and then you issue a new credit card number for that website. [01:08:32] So an example. In my case has get hub.com. We keep software up there and they charge me every month if get hub were to get hacked and that credit card number stolen I'm I really don't care because there's almost nothing that can happen. And if good hub doesn't properly cancel. My account, I can just cancel the credit card and, you know, let them come after me. [01:08:57] Right. This isn't going to happen. So then it's also called a master credit card number because it's a little safer than using your real credit card details. I also want to point out something about debit card. I went for years with no credit cards at all. Nowadays, many of my vendors will take a credit card for payment. [01:09:20] And in fact, give me a bit of a better deal. And then with the credit card, I can get 2% cash back, which I use to pay down the credit card. Right. It couldn't get any better than that, but when you're using a debit card, what I always. Is I had two accounts that I could transfer money between at the bank. [01:09:42] So I had one checking account. That was my main operating, if you will account. And then I had another checking account where I would be. Just moving money out of it. Or you could even do it with a savings account, but some banks, they only let you do so many transactions a month on a savings account. So the idea is I know that I have this much in credit card obligate while debit card obligations for this month, that money is going to be coming out. [01:10:11] So I make sure that. In the debit card account to cover the legitimate transactions I know are coming up and then I keep everything else in the other account. And then I manually transferred over every month. So that's how I dealt with the whole debit card thing. And it worked really well for me. Bottom line. [01:10:30] I think it's a really great. So there you go, who are the companies that you can use to do this? I've used some of these before all of them have worked really well. If you have a capital one credit card, they have something called Eno, E N O, and it's available to all capital one card. You know, even has an extension for your web browsers. [01:10:59] So if it notices you're on a webpage, it's asking for credit card number, it'll pop up and say, do you want me to create a credit card number or a virtual one for this websites you can make your payment. Does it get much easier than that? Citibank has something they call a virtual credit cards available to all Citibank card holders, master pass by MasterCard. [01:11:23] That's available to any MasterCard visa, American express discover Diner's club card holders, credit, debit, and prepaid cards by their way. So you might want to check that one out. Uh, yeah, so that's the only one I see on my list here. That will do it for debit cards, Masterpass by MasterCard American express checkouts, available to all American express card holders. [01:11:51] Chase pay available to all chase card holders, Wells Fargo, wallet, uh, visa checkouts, available to all visa, MasterCard, and American express and discover color card holders, credit and debit cards. Plus. Prepaid cards. Okay. So it does do the debit cards as well. Final that's all owned by Goldman Sachs and is not accepting any new applicants and entro pay. [01:12:19] Also not accepting new applicants. There's a couple online. You might also want to check out our Pyne. Premium Al buying. I'm buying a, B I N E blur premium. You might want to check that out as well. All right, everybody make sure you check me out. Craig peterson.com/subscribe. [01:12:43] We're going to wrap up how you should be using these burner identities of few more tips and tricks that are going to help keep you safe from the hackers that are out there. So here we go. [01:12:58] There are a lot of hackers out there. [01:13:01] The numbers are just astounding. The cost of these hackers coming in and stealing our information is just unbelievable. And it goes all the way from big corporations, from things like the colonial pipeline, the U S government all the way on down through you and me. I want to tell you a little story about a friend of mine. [01:13:28] He is about 75 years old and he supplements his income by driving for Uber eats and one other company. And so what he'll do is someone puts in an order for food somewhere. He'll go pick it up and then he'll drive it to where whoever wanted wanted, whoever ordered it. Now, there are. Pricing number of scams with this. [01:13:55] So he's very careful about some of that orders, a cookie, for instance, because it's usually a bit of a scam anyways, we won't get into those, but I'll tell you what happened to him. His information was stolen online as it was probably yours. Mine I know was as well. So it's all stolen. What do you do? While in his case, what ended up happening is they managed to get into his email account. [01:14:27] Once they're in his email account, they now had access to the emails he was getting from one of these companies. Now it wasn't the Uber eats guy. He was, there was another company. So let's just explain this a little bit. Uber eats sends him a request for him to go ahead and do a double. So, you know, go to the restaurant, pick it up and take it to this client's house. [01:14:54] And in order for him to register, he had to register an email address. Now, of course, he uses the same email address for everything, all of the. Now, personally, that drives me a little bit insane, but that's what he does. And he has just a few passwords. Now. He writes them down a little book and heaven forbid he ever lose the book so that he can remember them. [01:15:24] He just wants to keep his life simple. Right. He's 75. He's not technophobic, but you know, he's not up on all of this stuff. What he found was a paycheck didn't show. And it was an $800 paycheck. We're talking about real money that he should have had in his. It didn't show up. So he calls up the company and says what happened to my paycheck and their record show? [01:15:53] Yes, indeed. It had been paid. We paid you, we deposited right into your account. Just like you asked. Yeah. You know, ACH into the account. Great. Wonderful. What had happened is bad guys had gone, gained control of his email address and use that now. Because they figured, well, I see some emails in his account from this food delivery service, so, well, let's try and see if this email address that we're looking at right now. [01:16:26] All of his emails let's look and see. Okay. Yeah. Same. Email address and same password as a used ad at this email address. Yeah, it worked. Okay. Great. So now we have access to this guys food delivery account. So they changed. The bank account number now, easy enough to confirm, right. They change it and send you an email. [01:16:54] Hey, I want to make sure that it was you until the bad guys, the hackers click out, yada yada. Yeah, it was me and then delete the email. So he doesn't see it. And now his $800 paycheck. In fact, I think there were a couple of different checks is deposited directly into the bad guy's bank account and. The money of course is transferred out pretty quickly. [01:17:18] Now the, that guys, these hackers are using what are called mules. You might be familiar with that in the drug trade. They'll have a third party deliver the drugs just to mule. They don't know what all is going on. They probably know the delivering drugs in this case, most of the meals are useful idiots of which there are many in this country. [01:17:43] Unfortunate. Uh, political and otherwise. And these people are convinced that all they need to do is transfer the money into this account so that the hackers can then pull it out. And you know, now they're going to take care of their grandmother who is stuck in the hospital and they have no way to pay for it. [01:18:07] And they can't transfer the money out of the country during. That's one of the stories they use for people. And in many cases, these meals know what they're doing. The FBI earlier this year arrested a whole group of mules out in California that were purposefully transferring the money. They knew what they were doing. [01:18:28] So his money was now out of the country. No way to get it. And this food delivery company was not about to pay him. So it, isn't just the big guys it's you and me as well. So what I want to talk about right now is multi-factor authentication. Now. You guys are the best and brightest. I hope you understand this. [01:18:54] If you have questions, please reach out to me. I am more than

It's time for WeWow! Join Guy and Mindy on a staycation to the beach and explore the who, what, where, why, how and wow of Geo-Solar-Engineering, a nifty new way to keep our planet cool!  Then come back every day this week to WOW with us as we plan, research, experiment and tinker with an Earth Week podject of our own!

Our guest this episode is NYC-based architect Damian Samora. Damian studied at the University of Notre Dame and began his career in London before moving to New York and joining the esteemed architectural firm, Ferguson & Shamamian. Ferguson & Shamamian is on the AD100 and has been featured in all of the top design magazines. Damian has designed everything from rustic mountain retreats to historic apartment buildings to large family homes. We discuss why Damian and his firm always work in tandem with an interior designer, the challenges of working within the confines of NYC apartment structures, what to look for when hiring an architect and more. What You’ll Hear on This Episode: Ferguson & Shamamian have a deep-rooted philosophy in designing spaces with interior design at the forefront. NYC apartments are often limited in their structural changes. How Damian and his team confront those challenges to achieve the client’s vision. How Damian works with an interior designer to face challenges like finding sources of light even in tiny apartment hallways and combining two apartments into one. Familiarity is often how people choose their “warm” or comfort in their homes. While being at home more, people are more activity-focused. Things like pools, homework rooms, dual offices, etc., are becoming more popular. So are doors and walls! After living in London, Damian’s design was influenced by parts of the English style like respect for context and uniqueness. How furniture structure can evoke a feeling and affect a mood. Why soundproofing and hiring an acoustician can be so important to the function of your home yet is often overlooked. Damian’s tips on where to spend and save; depending on if it’s your forever home. When looking to hire an architect, Damian recommends finding the firm whose work you like then trusting their referral to the individual architect. It should also be treated as any other relationship. Damian gets most excited when clients want to design around their art collection. Are people still doing screens on their windows? Yes, but Damian recommends being selective and not placing screens on every window. Mentioned In This Episode: Ferguson & Shamamian #FergusonShamamian on Instagram Decorating Dilemma Hi Kate, It’s going to be helpful to think about where your priorities are and then weigh it against what is most cost-effective. Your rangehood and your island carry the most weight in those spaces. So unless you are going to replace them, you have to work with them and not against them. In terms of light fixtures, we would shy away from matching them because they are doing different work. If you want to pull focus to the island, you could try a pot rack light fixture or something linear to give the kitchen some weight. For the breakfast room, we would definitely add a round table. We also like upholstery on the chairs to soften things up (Sunbrella or other performance fabric would be great with kids). Regarding the window treatments, you want them to be sort of “talking” to each other, and this is a great place to bring in some fabric. The backsplash is always hard and right now it’s grabbing too much attention. We would contemplate replacing the countertops to match the backsplash. We all agree that we like the color of your cabinets and painting it another color white won’t do much; the tile is the real problem. We also don’t think you need to paint the rooms; just balance the lighting and the window treatments. The island doesn’t necessarily need to change color either, but the stools should tie more to the value of color of the cabinets. Think of the breakfast room, the kitchen and the family room each as a node that pulls you inward to them. There’s a lot of great space here; don’t be down on yourself and give yourself some time. Good luck and please send us the after photos!

Summer days are getting hotter and hotter! For us humans, it's as easy as drinking a cool glass of water, lathering ourselves in sunscreen and putting up a parasol! But what about the planet? How do we keep planet earth cool! On a summer staycation to the beach, Guy and Mindy explore who, what, where, why, how and wow of Geo-Solar-Engineering a nifty new way to keep our planet cool! Originally aired 6-10-19

This week we start off by talking about holiday decorating with some tree talk and gift wrapping strategy. Then, we welcome the great Timothy Corrigan to talk about his chateau addiction, his signature style described as “comfortably elegant”, and his new book The New Elegance. Timothy believes our home is the place to bring out our best selves, elegance doesn’t always have to take a lot of effort to achieve, and there is nothing better than mixing styles and quality. What You’ll Hear on This Episode: Trials on a broken Sunbrella storage ottoman, and triumphs on appreciating a beautiful fall day in a great home, toy organization, and a valance using Ballard hardware. What Timothy means when he says elegance is misunderstood, and how it can transcend any style. More about Timothy’s new book The New Elegance - a great read that shares the stories of homes in which he has defined a new contemporary elegance. Ways we can include classic design principles in our busy life. If you are comfortable in your home, everyone has a better experience. Research shows that when you like your environment, you are healthier. Why Timothy believes we don’t have to always trade-off beauty for comfort, and the liveability aspect of our design is so important to the overall experience. Timothy was working in advertising in New York then moved to Europe at the age of 30, and it opened up his eyes to the world of beauty and design. When Timothy became an auction addict, and why he views it as a great opportunity to learn and gain information on the history of pieces. Timothy’s love of chateaus and his detailing of how people live in them and update them to meet their modern needs in his book An Invitation to Chateau du Grand-Luce. Design is about learning, exploring and then figuring out how to do it yourself to meet your scale and proportion. Tim explains why color very much shapes the way you experience a room. How to know what to respect the integrity of the home, yet also update the architecture to reflect the function and style of what you may need today. Surround yourself with things you love, and feel free to mix and match from colors, accessories, and furniture that speak to you. The primary types of symmetry, and how understanding them can help us design in a way that compliments and highlight proportion and space. Mentioned In This Episode: Timothy Corrigan Books @timothycorrigan Decorating Dilemma Hello Denmark! The views outside your windows are so dreamy. To Tim, the biggest issue is starting to create some separation between the living and dining area. He would recommend a rug under the sofa and chairs in the living area, to ground it and make it feel more cozy and comfortable. Next, if you put a sofa table behind it with objects (or table lamps) to subtly divide space and open it up in an interesting way to make it feel even bigger. Also, some softening to the space will make it feel more inviting. As far as your dining space, a longer oval or rectangle table anchored horizontally could work very well. ----------------------------------------------------- You can move the banquette back a foot up against one day, which would tremendously open the space up. This is a perfect example that we don’t have to be a slave to our home. We like the chairs you have, and think the combination as it is looks sweet and pretty. Window treatments are important to make you feel safe and protect your privacy, so go ahead and put some curtains in.  

1.  INTRO In our last episode, #56, we talked about the amazing Designer Experience event we attended that was put together by PBM Brands and Designers Today Magazine.   We were invited along with several interior designers from across the country to Greensboro and High Point North Carolina for a 3 day immersion of the Triad area where we visited some key furniture manufacturers and toured the Sunbrella offices.   One of our favorite events was a visit to The Philips Collection in High Point North Carolina.  2.  ABOUT THE PHILLIPS COLLECTOIN A.     It all started nearly fifty years ago when Larry and Sherry Phillips left their old lives behind to travel the world. When their entrepreneur son Mark and his architect wife, Julie joined them, they created a company dedicated to discovering beautiful and unusual hand-crafted home décor for their exclusive design trade clientele. Today, their children, Jason and Jessica have become integral parts of the business. B.     They are a design leader in the furniture industry and have received some of the top industry awards, including multiple Pinnacle and ADEX Awards, as well as a four-time recipient of the coveted ARTS Award for Top Product Designer. C.     They offer products such as organic contemporary furnishings, accessories, wall décor and sculpture. D.    They are a to-the-trade company with showrooms in Atlanta, Dallas, High Point, Laguna, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York. If you are a consumer you can purchase their products through an Interior Designer or find their products at fine furniture dealers around the world. E.     Commercial Work – There’s a good chance you’ve seen their products at the movies or on TV, as well as your favorite restaurants, bars and nightclubs. We are very excited to have Jason Phillips, Vice President of the Phillips Collection as a guest today. 3.  TELL US THE ROLE YOU PLAY IN THE COMPANY A.     Did you always want to be involved in the family business? B.     How old were you when you started? 4.  THE VIDEOS - EVERY PIECE A CONVERSATION A.     Tell us about your trips around the world and what you search for. B.     Where is your favorite place to visit? 5.  THE PRODUCTS A.     The Origins Collection – Live edge and reclaimed roots made into tables, stools, sculpture and accents – Tell us the story about the tree roots and the fire truck B.     The seat belt chair – such an interesting piece. How did it come to be? C.     What is your favorite piece and why? 6.  FOLLOW PHILLIPS COLLECTION A.     Instagram – www.instagram.com/phillipsco B.     Facebook – www.facebook.com/thephillipscollection C.     Twitter – www.twitter.com/phillipsco D.    Pinterest – www.pinterest.com/phillipsco E.     You Tube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVDPG_UbsHlcQHV-p-YFt6w  

1.  INTRO We were honored to receive another special invitation to a trade event this time in Greensboro & Highpoint, NC. Called The Designer Experience. The Designer Experience is a two-and-a-half day symposium exclusively for the design trade. This creative forum puts a unique spotlight on North Carolina’s enduring legacy as a center for textiles, furniture-making and manufacturing, as well as its renaissance and appreciation for farm-to-table dining and wining. Designed to inspire, educate, entertain, and foster life-long relationships, the event delivers custom-designed, accredited educational experiences plus time to savor the best food and culture North Carolina has to offer in the company of your colleagues.  The event was put on by PBM Brand and Designers Today Magazine (which if you aren’t reading, you SHOULD be). 2. DAY 1 A.     Jill Seale – Jill Seale Design Studio B.     Lisa Mende of Lis Mende Design C.     Made in America Panel with Norwalk Furniture, Capel Rugs, Sylvester Alexander D.     Evening with Universal and Crypton 3.  DAY 2 A.     Melissa Galt – Get More Done and Love Your Business More B.     Phillips Collection Factory Tour C.     Lexington Design Center and CEU Discuss with Marcia Blake of Glen Ravin about performance fabrics D.     Tour and dinner at Sunbrella’s HQ 4.  DAY 3 A.     Markor tour – Caracole, A.R.T., Jonathan Charles, Rowe B.     Speaker – Amy Flurry – Recipe for Press, Paper Cut Project

While Sunbrella’s legacy is primarily known for outdoor applications, the fabric company is focusing on indoor uses in its new space at NeoCon 2019. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/interiorsandsources/support

Summer days are getting hotter and hotter! For us humans, it's as easy as drinking a cool glass of water, lathering ourselves in sunscreen and putting up a parasol! But what about the planet? How do we keep planet earth cool! On a summer staycation to the beach, Guy and Mindy explore who, what, where, why, how and wow of Geo-Solar-Engineering a nifty new way to keep our planet cool!

As we continue our discussion about the design, marketing and unique qualities of vacation rental properties we are very excited to have Jeff Hylton here with us today to talk about his unique vacation rental. We found the “ARK ON LAKE LANIER” while doing research for a previous podcast and were so impressed with their facility and story, we wanted to share it with all of you! The Ark on Lake Lanier is a family owned business and ministry that began operating as a vacation rental in June of 2013.  THE STORY OF THE ARK:  DESIGN How did you even know where to begin when furnishing a 12,000 square foot home of this size? Who was responsible for the furnishings and design? What furnishings have stood the test of time? What has not? Your have several rave reviews and many say that the bedrooms were spacious and comfortable. With 14 bedrooms that can sleep 45 guests, do you use any special bedding or sheeting? I saw a white chair in the “living space”. Is it a Sunbrella fabric? How has it held up? MARKETING Your website is very informative and detailed. Have you had to re-photograph any spaces that have been updated? When did you embrace social media? How has it helped you? We know from personal experience that it takes a lot to constantly engage on social media.   Do you do that yourself or does someone on your staff handle it? PHILANTHROPY It’s obvious from your website that you give back to several organizations and ministries. Was that always a goal?  CLOSING COMMENTS Do you have any sage advice for someone wanting to get into the vacation rental business?

Today we are talking about how the websites AirBnB and VRBO have completely revolutionized the travel industry and put hotels on notice that they need to step up to their competition.  We find this phenomenon fascinating not only because we travel a lot but more importantly because we are consistently appalled by the interiors of the spaces being rented. 1.  What exactly are these sites? A. AirBnB History: The story behind how AirBnB got started is awesome. It was started by 2 guys in 2007 who were living in San Francisco. They couldn’t afford their rent and came up with the idea of renting air mattresses in their apartment during a time when a big conference was going on in town and hotels were scarce. They whipped up a website and called it Air Bed & Breakfast. After many attempts to target guests during events like the Democratic National Convention, increase cashflow thru bootstrap marketing techniques and putting their idea in front of angel investors and startup accelerators, they have become a $25 billion company! B. How Does it Work? Airbnb is an online marketplace which lets people rent out their properties or spare rooms to guests. Airbnb takes 3% commission of every booking from hosts, and between 6% and 12% from guests. You can now find a place to stay in over 192 countries worldwide! C.  VRBO History: VRBO was started before AirBnB in 2004 in Austin Texas. They are a little different in that their site doesn’t include home sharing and room rentals and isn’t doesn’t rely as heavily on reviews. They do however have 2 million rentals in 190 countries. 2.  Personal experience A.     VRBO – Oxford Condo B.     AirBnB – Murray Christmas Reunions in Annapolis, MD, Rosemary Beach, FL, W. Palm Beach, FL C.     AirBnB – Rome, Italy D.     Chicago – Emory E.     Joann – experiences? 3.  What we love about it A.     Price B.     Variety of options C.     Great for large events D.     Choose a host language E.     Immerse yourself in an area not suitable for a hotel 4.  What makes us squirm – marketing of these rentals! A.     A picture says a 1000 words! Invest in the photography and styling! B.     What matters when marketing?                 i.         Paint colors               ii.         Lighting              iii.         Simple furnishings              iv.         Interesting artwork – local to the area               v.         Comfortable bedding 5.  What renters want A.     Direct communication with owner or management company                 i.         Rome – calling us a cab/ Making restaurant reservations               ii.         FL – Offering ideas for charters and pottery painting locations B.     Feedback from other renters                 i.         Guest book               ii.         Reviews C.     A fully stocked kitchen D.     Necessities for at least 2 days – tp/paper towels/coffee/ trash bags/salt & pepper/ dish washing liquid E.     Extra towels, blankets and pillows – GREAT bedding F.     Amenities – bike, balls, cards, games, grills, pool toys 6.  Our future in this industry – for years we’ve threatened to crash the medical services industry and start a design revolution in doctors offices. However, given our love of travel and our high standards in the hospitality arena, we feel like our advice is better suited for the vacation rental industry. For Part 1 of our vacation rental advice column we’ve got some quick, valuable advice for all those hosts out there: A.     Our top fave 10 paint colors for a bright, fresh rental B.     Our top 10 Sunbrella performance fabrics for long lasting durability of upholstery

(https://radioarizonarv.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/718BQijKpML._SL1500_.jpg) In Episode 43 I break down purchasing either an Adco or Classic RV Cover for storing your RV, Travel Trailer or Fifth Wheel in challenging climates. I am only going to spend time talking about Adco and Classic RV covers because they are mainly in the RV Cover business and have great reputations. I have sold other covers and at the end of the day I always default back to Adco and Classic. After being in Arizona for many years I came to the conclusion an RV Cover whether it is for a travel trailer or motorhome will quite often only last for one summer due to the constant heavy winds. The wind, not the sun, tears them apart before the summer is over. Even if all of the edges and corners of the RV were protected the covers just did not last. I finally stopped selling them. That is, I gave a strong warning about how long they would last and for the most part talked the RV owner out of buying a cover that would probably only last one summer. If you are thinking that there are other brands of RV Covers you are right and I do explain that point and add an explanation why I am focusing on just Adco and Classic RV Covers. Besides being in the cover business they are the 2 brands that have been sold predominantly in most RV parts and accessory stores for decades. They are very well known! I have sold other brands and stopped selling them because of the tremendous amount of problems our customers experienced and the headaches that came along with so called “Problem Free Warranties”. I talked with Adco and they were very helpful in answering questions about their products. Adco recommends the All Climate Wind Series with Tyvek as the go to cover. They recommended it for all climates excluding windy areas. For windy ares, specifically Arizona they recommended a custom cover made of Sunbrella fabric. They are custom made for your RV and can get a little pricey compared to their other covers. I did not spend much time talking about the custom covers. Adco offers a 2 year warranty on the All Climate Wind Series with Tyvek covers. The two year warranty is a decent warranty as long the cover does not tear in that time. The two year warranty offers a one time cover replacement and free patch kits to repair any tears provided that they are repairable by the RV owner. Adco & Classic both emphasized the importance of measuring correctly and buying the right cover at the outset. To measure properly you should include ladders, bumpers, spare tire covers, etc… Do not go by the size the dealer told you when you bought the RV, get some exercise and do the measuring yourself. Your size options will be broke down to size ranges. Your RV will fall into a size range that could have some extra length to or fit a little snug. The covers are adjustable to take up some of the extra material if it is a little large. (https://radioarizonarv.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ClassicCover.jpg) Classic RV Covers are very proud of their PermaPRO Deluxe RV Covers and it sounds like they should be. They too clam that it is ideal for all climates other than windy ares such as Arizona. They offer a Limited Lifetime Warranty and they deal directly with you about any warranty issues that may occur. They will replace the cover if needed and they also offer patch kits for minor tears. Classic boasts about their warranty and the customer service experience as being the best and I would say that they are excited about their product and warranty. Classic also offers the new SkyShield Plus RV cover with a Tyvek roof section similiar to Adco’s All Climate Wind Series with Tyvek except the 4 year warranty period is twice as longer with the Classic SkyShield Plus. Classic speaks very highly off the rip stop material used in their covers and reassures that small tears stay small if taken care of in a timely manner. I personally will stick with these 2... Support this podcast

HOME DESIGN CHAT WITH NANCY Nancy’s guest this week was Leslie Dixon, fabric expert and co-owner of Studio 1010.   Leslie explained everything you need to know about using fabrics for upholstery and drapes.  She also talked about Sunbrella fabrics- the benefits and functions of this fabric for indoor and outdoor furniture. Leslie was a […]

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!! Because nothing says 4th of July like performance fabrics... Today we are answering your questions & our own on just that very topic! Questions like, _really, what is a performance fabric? How can it work best for me? Indoor, outdoor, green not green and more... _ If you are curious as we were about the real scoop on these fabrics tune in we'd love to have you with us as always! _And no Nita Jean - it is not Kryptonite! _ (Listen in to know what I am talking about) Before you head out to celebrate the day - let's have a few laughs togther & learn something. Imagine how impressed everyone will be at the afternnon bbq when you can tell them all about how Sunbrella is made & why it works and...whether you can wash it! All this and more will be revealed... No plans for a while, pop into our shop, Bespoke Decor (https://bespokedecor.store/) ~ yup, that is the new much shorter name. BespokeDecor.store ! Our Patriotic Collection is all on sale today along with some really fabulous red ticking items & a few french-y pillows tossed into the mix. Visit is HERE (https://bespokedecor.store/). Welcome to ALL our new listeners! So glad you have joined us. Many of you must be telling your friends about the podcast, as this party keeps getting bigger! Did you know DTT was in the top ten of design podcasts again this week!! We are thrilled and have you all to thank for spreading the word. If you have a friend that you think might enjoy DTT invite them to join us too. Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Feel free to drop us a line and let us know what you think of the podcast or with any questions. Our email is decoratingtipsandtricks@gmail.com Have a wonderful day!! xox, Anita, Yvonne and Kelly

  Moderation is the key to a long and happy life!  Make sure you choose the middle way with this shady edition of Verbal Surgery -564- "Sunbrella" and feel good, NOW!

Join Joann Kandrac and Kelly Kole as they discuss fabrics and their performance, best uses for different fabric types, and designing with pets and kids in mind. IN THIS EPISODE: I. Intro a) What are considered “performance” fabrics b) Properties of Crypton and Sunbrella c) Designing with pets and kids in mind d) Beach House Rental e) Outdoor products II. Performance a) “Performance can mean many things: abrasion, stain resistance, light fastness, flame retardance.” b) Abrasion:  The Wyzenbeek testing method is the most common abrasion testing method in the U.S. A fabric is stretched onto a machine and rubbed back and forth, with signs of wearability checked every 5,000 rubs. c) Stain Resistance – Crypton, Indoor/Outdoor/Microfiber d) Light Fastness - To evaluate fade resistance, a strip of fabric is placed in a large device with part of the fabric protected by a card. The remaining fabric gets a 40-hour blast of light exposure, and results are measured from 1 to 5.  A score of 4 is generally considered good for normal residential use. e) Flame Retardance - Almost all the tests in this category test for flammability by holding a fabric to a cigarette or flame to see how it responds. III. Best places to use performance fabric a) Kitchen and Dining Rooms b) Family Room Upholstery c) Custom shower curtains d) Sunny spots e) Outdoor cushions, awnings, curtains IV. Crypton  - each fiber of Crypton Fabric is encapsulated with a patented technology that never breaks down its resistance to stains, moisture, mildew and odors. This protects the fabric from spills and keeps stains from setting in the foam of the cushions. V. Sunbrella – UV and fade resistant, mold and mildew resistant, bleach cleanable. VI. Designing with pet/kids a) Kids:   choose eco-friendly, non-toxic furnishings, bedding and paint to make the environment healthy. b) For a family room, use an upholstered (crypton or sunbrella) ottoman instead of wood and use tray for drinks, remote, etc. c) Leather - Fur and hair won't stick to it. You can simply vacuum it away and use a cleaner to keep the leather supple.  Leather does scratch but if you don’t mind, it will develop a patina that some people think looks great. But if you want your leather to stay pristine, keep your pets off of it. d) If you have a shedding animal, match the fabric to their hair color. e) As a general rule for choosing pet-friendly fabrics, look for fabrics that have a tight weave and a pattern.  Stay away from: Velvet, chenille and silk. f) Use pet covers for sofas and bedding.  Good ones at Chewy.com and Amazon. VII. Beach House Rental a) Our Favorite Outdoor manufacturers b) Costco c) Frontgate d) Summer Classics f) Selamat g) Janet et Cie

We've gotten lots of questions from listeners about performance fabrics. What are they? Why are they so durable? Are they safe to use in our homes? We thought we'd answer all of your questions, so we went straight to the source. Kimberly Peoples and Emily Cosgrove of Sunbrella stopped by the podcast to give us a 101 lesson in performance fabrics. Plus we talk about our newest collection of over 100 performance fabrics we're adding to our line. WHAT YOU'LL HEAR ON THIS EPISODE: Why our performance fabrics by Sunbrella are stainproof, fadeproof, and super durableWe talk about the 'face test' and why we're so excited to use our new performance fabrics on our furnitureEmily talks about how she became a textile designerKimberly and Emily tell us about all the cool green and eco-friendly aspects about the Sunbrella companyWe talk through common stains and the handy chart that'll make cleanup a breezeWhich furniture pieces you should consider using performance fabrics onWe talk about some of our favorite fabrics in the new collectionWe help Kimberly sort through her own decorating dilemma