Saturday, March 6th, 2010 by Will Elkadi
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
When it comes to technical support and company technicians it becomes difficult to justify keeping them full-time if there is even a minute of billable time being wasted. Tough economic times calls for outsourcing…
If you think about it, employees from all industries have moments of free time while on the clock. By keeping internal technicians, you may have well informed employees who can be a great asset, but there is a problem when even a moment is wasted on non-productive tasks or efforts, or time wasted on unnecessary activities or resources. By outsourcing for necessary technical support, a business can cut corporate expenses by only paying when the outsourced company is working – as in during the course of a task or assignment. This is in comparison to the standard 40 hours a week every week paid to a full-time in-house technician.
On one hand, the benefits for outsourcing is obvious – to save big bucks. While on the other hand, knowledgeable internal technicians are a huge asset to the every day ‘run of the mill’. Unfortunately for the many contractors and superfluous salaried employees, this means less work for them and more work for oversized, mass produced outsourcing companies. Today, especially during this economic recession, it is imperative for businesses to cut all possible corners and face all possible consequences.
The largest determining factor resides in the company’s pockets…
Tags: outsource, technical support, technology
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Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 by Amanda Moody
We can all admit that 2008 was an epic year. Here are some of the top technology achievements of the year:
1. Apple’s iPhone instills itself in our lives
2. Web influenced politics and presidential election
3. Introduction of the smallest computers to date
4. Social networking and bookmarking takes over pop culture
5. Yahoo! declines Microsoft’s buy offer
6. Cloud computing rises above the industry
7. Smartphones keep getting smarter
8. Digital music upgrades to all formats as CD’s continue to fade away
9. Video games take over the world
10. eBook readers ascend to top of the list
Of course there is more to the year, but as a start for the top 10, you can see how big of an influence technology is becoming. From presidential debates to connecting on Facebook, more and more people are finding the World Wide Web their number one resource; while information is added at immeasurable amounts every second.
Tags: 2008, technology
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Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 by Will Elkadi
It is time for another new browser – thank you, Apple.
The new Safari 4 BETA was released on Tuesday, February 24, 2009. Safari 4 Beta claims to have faster HTML performance plus increased JavaScript capabilities, which is now powered by the new JavaScript engine, Nitro.
Safari 4 Beta has similar features to that of Google’s Chrome browser, with features like tabs at the top and Top Sites view upon open. However, as with everything else Apple, Safari 4 implements many new features to add functionality and elegance to your everyday Internet browsing. Not to mention the unique interface concepts we have all come to love and expect from Apple – style, stability, usability, and state-of-the-art design.
Safari 4’s download file is quite a bit larger than Chrome, coming in at 62MB as opposed to half a megabyte. This is to be expected since Safari offers many more features than Chrome does. Mac users, take note that the installer requires OS X 10.5.6 – nothing less will work.
If you are upgrading, you will notice that the Top Sites page will appear with a curved-in 3-dimensional page with images of your current frequently visited sites from the older Safari installation. There is an edit button to remove any of the thumbnail images, plus you can rearrange the current images and ‘pin’ them to the location of your liking… for those of you with portable Apple devices, this is very similar to rearranging and ‘pinning’ of the icons on your iPhone desktop.
For those of you familiar with the Cover Flow view in iTunes library, Safari 4 allows you to view windows in the same format.
Take advantage of the convenient sidebar, which is accessible by clicking on the book icon at the top left of the browser window. This sidebar can be used to switch between History, Bookmarks, RSS Feeds/Reader, and Bonjour applications/networking.
For Windows users, notice that the new Safari has taken on more of a Windows approach for the browser appearance… you can view Safari 4 in Windows Classic, XP, and Vista themes. This has been a nonexistent feature in previous versions of Safari. Don’t worry Mac users, yours will still look like Mac software – minus the Windows features and appearance.
Technical Note:
When you download and install Safari 4 Beta for Windows or OS X, be aware that Safari’s installer will automatically remove any current Safari installations – meaning that you will not be able to keep the beta version and current version parallel to each other on a system. Don’t fret too much though – all cookies, bookmarks, history and other items will be transferred into the new Safari 4 browser.
Also, if for some reason you later decide to downgrade from the beta version to the current version, you can uninstall the beta, download current version (Safari 3.2.2 for Windows or Safari 3.2.1 for Leopard), and still maintain your cookies, bookmarks, history and other items, even through the uninstall process.
Tags: Apple, safari
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Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 by Will Elkadi
If you noticed the news lately, then you probably noticed the rise in crimes. Crimes are on the rise not only by people with money trying to keep it, but also from people who lost money and are trying to get it back. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and unfortunately many people lose their moral obligations and values when their own personal interest is at hand. Sources of these crimes include phishing scams, fraudulent check scams, pyramid schemes, and theft of credit card information. According to the U.S. Department of Justice Statistics, identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America, passing up drug trafficking as the number one crime. Incidence of identity theft has increased by about 50% from 2007 to 2008. There is an online international black market that thrives on stolen identities.
Protecting yourself from identity theft may seem overwhelming, but it is not impossible.
The most important thing to be aware of is your surroundings. Pay attention to the sites you visit and the information you freely give to forms, sites, and other electronic communication. Take note of all credit cards and account numbers you have stored online and where. Take note of the authenticity of the sites your information is stored on. Do they offer protection for your identity? Do they offer password encryption and secure connections? Out of companies that have been breached in the past, only about 3% had encryption methods in place. Is this the kind of protection you are looking for? Make sure your sensitive information is contained on a secure server. You can easily detect a secure server by the URL if it includes https://. If you are in the business industry, then guarantee your visitors privacy and security by purchasing SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificates. The more trust you have built with customers and vendors, the less likely you are to have to deal with ugly intrusion cases.
Prevention is possible, but preparation is the key. Acknowledge that it can happen, and prepare for what to do in case it does happen. There are many offers for identity theft protection, pick one that is right for you. In this day and age, especially in this economy, it is better to be safe than sorry.
Get copies of your credit report and always check all monthly statements for unauthorized charges. Hopes are that it won’t happen to you, but chances are that it might.
Tags: identity theft, security, SSL
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