When it comes to the home, most people overlook network security, but in reality, home security should be taken as seriously as business security (just on a smaller scale). This doesn't mean you need to hire a team of network security engineers, but it does mean that you need to pay attention. Applying good home security is more than protecting your photos. It's about protecting your finances and identity.
In most cases, there are 3 simple things you can do to drastically improve your home network security. All 3 things are something that most people can do on their own. For those who don't feel comfortable, you can contact us here. Regardless, these are 3 things that everyone should be doing!
Working in the IT space for the last 20 years has been an interesting experience. Not only has it been extremely fun to witness the birth of new technologies (and the evolution of existing technologies) every so often, but paying close attention to the "consumerization" of IT has been personally fascinating to me.
What does "consumerization of IT" mean and why is it important? The consumerization of IT really started in 2007 with the introduction of the first iPhone. To that point, most companies offered their employees a Blackberry device to use. When it came to checking email and text messages, this certainly got the job done, but most users didn't find great pleasure or satisfaction in using the devices. They just had to use them for business. When the iPhone was released, and more importantly, when 3rd-party apps were made available on the iPhone, users were more interested in using the device for work and pleasure.
The highly-anticipated (and super-exciting!) Apple Watch will be available for in-store purchase on April 24, but it will be available for pre-order and in-store try-ons this Friday, April 10! In anticipation of the big (pre-order) day, I thought I would answer some reader questions that have come my way, to help you be better prepared to make the purchase.
Time Machine includes a feature called "local snapshots" in OS X Lion and later. This feature keeps copies of files you create, modify or delete on your internal disk when your backup drive is not available.
What are local snapshots?
Local snapshots complement regular Time Machine backups that are stored on your external disk or Time Capsule by creating a local backup on your startup disk when your normal backup drive is not available. This provides you with a "safety net" for times when you might be away from your external backup disk or Time Capsule but accidentally delete a file. When your normal backup is available again, Time Machine copies the local snapshot contents from your startup disk to your normal backup drive.
Believe it or not, there are a few really cool tricks when it comes to entering phone numbers on your iPhone. In today's tech talk, I will cover two of them... "pause" and "wait".
You've been there, done that. You need to hop on to a conference call or call into a business where you are forced to enter an automated menu system. Yuk! It can be annoying when you dial the main number, wait for a list of options, choose the one you want only to wait again until the next set of options... especially if you call this number often. While I can't do anything about that unavoidable runaround, I can help to automate the process for you.
If there's one thing that I am finding more and more common amongst my clientele, it's the need to run QuickBooks. Not just in a standalone environment, but with two, three or even more users accessing the data simultaneously. Working in a multi-user QuickBooks environment tends to introduce certain challenges that you wouldn't normally have in a single-user environment.
For the purpose of this post, I will be focusing solely on QuickBooks for Windows. This is not because I don't think QuickBooks for Mac is a valid financial tool, but because not a single one of my clients uses QuickBooks for Mac. It does tend to be limited when compared to QuickBooks for Windows (this is something that Intuit needs to correct). As a result, it's normal to run VMWare Fusion or Parallels with Windows and QuickBooks (allowing the users to still enjoy the benefits of using a Mac while using QuickBooks for Windows).
I recently learned that when we sleep, we sleep in cyclical patterns of light sleep and deep sleep, often going back and forth several times in a given night. This is fairly typical. If we set our alarm to wake us up at 6:30a and we happen to be in a light sleep cycle, we often feel refreshed. When the alarm goes off in the middle of a deep sleep cycle, however, we feel groggy and not well rested.
We know about these sleep cycles. Wouldn't it be nice if our alarm clock knew about these sleep cycles, and woke us up at just the right time... in the middle of a light sleep cycle? If that's what you're looking for, I have just the app for you!
A reader asks, "I work with people all the time that use Microsoft Office. I use a Mac and use iWork (because it was free). Can I use iWork to work on Office documents? If so, what problems will I encounter?"
That's a great question, and one that I hear quite often. Historically, Microsoft Office has been the gold standard (or at least the default) choice for productivity applications (word processing, spreadsheets and presentations). Without going into details in this post, there are some features that Office has that iWork doesn't (for example, pivot tables), but for the other 98% of us who don't need those features, iWork is an incredible alternative. In fact, I'll fill you in on a little secret... I collaborate with Microsoft Office users all the time, and haven't had Office installed on my Mac since Apple released their Numbers app in 2008! Here are some lessons that I have learned along the way when using iWork to work on Office documents.
Apple's iCloud service is a fantastic resource for keeping in touch and sharing your important moments with others. The service includes email, contacts, calendars, iCloud Drive, etc... all in a way that seamlessly syncs in the background. I recommend that everyone have (and use) an iCloud account.
Historically, the only way to create a new iCloud account was on a Mac or an iOS device (iPad or iPhone, for example). This is great for Apple hardware users, but what about PC users? Despite your platform preference (Mac vs. PC), iCloud is still a great online resource to use. PC users now have a reason to rejoice!
There's no doubt about it... your Mac is an investment (both in terms of time and money). As with any other investment (home, car, equipment, etc), you want to protect it. This is especially important for portable devices. The more portable the device, the more likely it is to fail.
Apple offers a 3-year hardware/software warranty called AppleCare. This is available on any device from ultra-high-end Mac Pros down to iPods (prices vary depending on the product). I've been fortunate enough to rarely take advantage of my AppleCare, but I do sleep better at night knowing that I have it. Regardless of whether you have AppleCare or not, it's always nice to know where you stand with your warranty. There are several ways to check the status of your Macs warranty, but in today's post, I will show you the easiest way.
Sometimes I get caught up in the more complex tech tips, forgetting that in most cases, the simplest tips can have the biggest impact on productivity. Today's tip is an effort to get back to basics and remind us all of a really cool (and super useful) feature in OS X that can make all of our lives just a little easier.
You work hard to create your documents and make them look really good. When it's time to send your document to someone else, some of the formatting gets lost in translation or worse... the recipient makes unauthorized changes. Yikes! This could lead to bad things. Here's an easy way to protect your work and ensure that it looks just how it should.
I love it when software works the way it's supposed to (it's one of the reasons why I enjoy using Mac OS X). When it doesn't work as designed (or as the way you expect it to work), it can be frustrating. Not only that, but it can cost you time and money.
Before I continue, let me just say that I realize how complex building good software can be. When I was younger, I wanted to be a software developer. That didn't last very long. I respect good software developers for their hard work, dedication and commitment to making good apps. Having said that, I also know that they are humans like the rest of us, and they make mistakes. In most cases, these mistakes (or "bugs", as most of us call them, aren't always captured in their quality assurance testing. When this happens, we need to let the developers know so that they are aware of the bug, and can correct it
I love my iPad. It goes with me just about everywhere. Apps like Dropbox, Keynote, Pages, Netflix and GoToMeeting make it a killer road-warrior tool for me. Even with those amazing apps, there is one app that I can't imagine not having with my at all times.
The app that I'm thinking of isn't just a great drawing/doodling app, but it's a great whiteboard app as well. What do I mean by that? I can't tell you how many times I'm trying to explain how something works to someone, only to wish that I had a real whiteboard right there to draw a diagram to help make my point. In most cases, there is no whiteboard, but there is my iPad with Paper by FiftyThree.
When I was younger, I used to love playing Minesweeper, a single-player puzzle game, originally introduced in the 1960's, later adopted by Microsoft and pre-installed on every Windows-based computer. It's a great game to play whether you have a minute to play or an hour.
When Windows 7 was introduced, Minesweeper was no longer bundled with the Operating System. Not only that, but it's never been a part of OS X or iOS. For those of you who loved it as much as I did/do, have no fear... there's an app for that
This time of the year (at least for those of us living on the Northern hemisphere) is a wonderful time of the year to own a fireplace. They're great for snuggling up close to and warming up those cold feet and hands after shoveling some snow. A fireplace is also great for creating a warm atmosphere. Not just warm as in temperature, but it helps to create a peaceful ambiance in the room.
Unfortunately, not all of us have a fireplace in their home. This is where we can enlist the help of technology. Yup, you heard me... technology! Here's how to create your very own digital fireplace.
