Archive for the ‘News’ Category
The iPad and The Enterprise, a not quite fairytale
September 16th, 2010Once upon a time, in the far away land of Apple, lived a beautiful iPad. It longed to enter mainstream America, so it ventured out to play. Along the way, the evil corporation fooled the lovely iPad into entering its workforce, hoping to diminish the initial joy of this toy. Alas, the iPad was so happy in its new home, embracing the work happily, and evil was once again foiled.
Initially released as a mainstream consumer product, the iPad is here to stay…love it or leave it. In its first 3 months on the market, over 3 million iPads were purchased, and projections for media tablets as a whole are liable to reach almost 8 million consumers this year alone.
Like the iPhone, the iPad shares the same operating system, making it a legitimate tool for employees on the go. However, without videoconferencing capabilities, a staple tool for employees in the field, the iPad has room to grow. Also, like the iPhone, it does not support Flash and is still a bit too small to handle a serious at your desk workload. On the plus side, those handy apps are the main draw to the mobile workforce and they do a great job.
How well it works in the Enterprise is still up for debate. Third party application developers are helping to bridge the gap by developing apps to read and write common office file formats (such as Microsoft© Word and Excel), plus a plethora of utilities for day-to-day office tasks including many for IT administrators. Updates to the Operating System will ensue, enabling more multi-tasking abilities as time goes on.
While the iPad is still primarily a consumer-related product, the workforce is rapidly clamoring to justify its support within the corporate enterprise network. But don’t toss the laptops out just yet. The iPad was never intended to replace the standard computer; it is — and will remain to be — an additional tool in the workforce arsenal.
At the end of the day, we own iPads, iPods and iPhones and we use them every day. Just like every tool in a carpenter’s toolbox has its place, we believe in using the right tool for the right job at the right time. And that’s truly how to live happily ever after.
Julie Settle
A&J Computers Inc
Can Buying a Computer Warranty Now Save Me Time and Money Later?
August 12th, 2010I recently replaced my laptop and was asked the age old question: would you like to add the extended warranty service? Hmmm, do I?
If you are like most folks, the immediate response is NO. It normally doesn’t pay for itself in the long run. But before you do that, regardless of whether you are a single user or a small business office, consider some of these key points:
- Do you know what to do or where to look when there is a problem?
- Can you fix most minor issues on your own?
- Do you proactively maintain and back up your equipment?
- Can you resolve an issue involving multiple third parties (ie–when they are pointing the finger at each other)?
- Do you have the time to research and implement updates and repairs?
Today’s IT warranties are tailored to you and your environment and are simple, expedient and on your terms. Your support solution helps resolve the situation, not get in the way. Many are also designed to provide tech-to-tech support, allowing your IT staff to fix the situation and free up your time to focus on the bigger picture.
Warranties may not be such a bad idea anymore, the choice is yours.
^JS
Is is OK for me to use my neighbor’s wireless internet connection?
August 31st, 2009We get asked (or told) about using a neighbor’s or the company down the street’s wireless Internet connection. Let me explain why it’s not a good idea to do and what steps you should take to prevent this from happening to you.
Here’s a exceprt from an article about using someone else’s internet connection:
Perhaps the first and most notable case of an individual being arrested for illegally accessing a wireless network is that of Benjamin Smith III of St. Petersburg, FL. In the spring of 2005, Richard Dinon noticed someone parked outside his home and obviously staring at a laptop PC. According to Dinon, when Smith saw that he was being watched, he quickly closed the laptop. Dinon left to run some errands, but upon his return over an hour later, Smith was still outside staring at his PC. Dinon called the police, who arrested Smith, claiming that he was illegally accessing Dinon’s wireless network. Police said Smith admitted using the network and was charged with unauthorized access to a computer network, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
A subsequent inspection of Smith’s PC found child pornography, leading to an additional felony count of sexual performance by a child. In June of this year, Smith pled no contest to stealing a wireless computer signal and no contest to an amended, lesser, charge of felony child abuse relating to child porn police found on his laptop computer. According to a report in the St. Petersburg Times, “Smith’s attorney, Hubbell Losson, argued in motions that the statute outlawing unauthorized access to computers did not apply to wireless service, but Peters ruled against him.”
The key here is not that the guy was accessing the Internetor that he was parked outside the house, but that this can happen to you without your knowledge. If you are accessing an open wireless network or someone is accessing yours, how do you know what they are doing – they could be downloading music off a file sharing site (a felony here in the United States), hacking into a restricted site (which will be traced back to your Internet connection, not their specific computer) and do you want to be caught up in whatever they are doing? I trust my neighbors and the companies that are near me, but if they have an open Internet connection I make sure I steer away from it at all costs. In addition to the security risk I am taking (the open wireless could be a trick to steal passwords, bank account information or infect you computer with viruses and spyware), you are putting your future in someone else’s hands. So my recommendation is the not access that wireless network and to make sure yours is secure as well. Public wireless access connections (Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, etc) are OK as long as you have a firewall installed on your computer and good anti-virus/anti-spyware software. Here’s a quick wrap up of my recommendations:
- Don’t access an open wireless network unless it’s from a commercial service (e.g. Internet hot spots)
- Make sure your wireless network is secure from access (most devices have an easy to follow set of steps to secure your connection)
- If you are accessing one of the many public Internet connections available, have your firewall turned on, anti-virus and anti-spyware software installed correctly
- If you see any suspicious activity, call the police – it’s a felony to gain access to a computer or computer network without authorization.
So stay smart, stay secure and keep your network safe. If you are having trouble checking your wireless network, just give us a call and we can come out and check it for you.
Joe Vivona
A&J Computers Inc
FTC shuts down Spam Network
July 11th, 2009Recently the Federal Trade Commission shut down a rouge Internet service provided doing business under the names Pricewart, 3FN and APS Telecom. People are reporting up to a 20% drop in spam levels. Email administrators (and us) are celebrating this as hopefully one in the start of many actions the FTC is going to take this year.
For those of you who host their email with us, let me give you an idea of the amount of spam we filter every day. As of July 1, 2009 we host about 150 domain names for customers with a total of 500 mailboxes. Every day we receive approximately 800,000 emails – of those, we allow around 20,000 emails into mailboxes. That’s 97.5% of all emails are tagged as spam by our filtering software. It’s a never ending battle for us every day.
If you want to read more about the FTC action, or see the rules around CAN-SPAM compliance (which every company is supposed to abide by), you can check out the FTC’s site.
FTC’s action against Pricewart: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/06/3fn.shtm
FTC’s page on CAN-SPAM: FTC’s page on CAN-SPAM: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm
