Finally an Affordable Cloud Service for Your Small Business
Well you have heard all about Cloud computing this past year as well as hearing it from us. With so many different options and pricing this solution has been mind boggling to say the least.
The beginning of the month Microsoft finally released its version to the Professional and SMB markets of Office 365.
Now you have access to Emails, documents, calendars, contacts and more, anywhere, any time, on any device.
It uses all the familiar tools we all have come to love such as Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Word, Access and more. It offers the security and reliability you need to run your business.
Simplify your scheduling; collaborate on documents and calendars, with no need to have a server or dedicated IT staff on premises.
This is the solution that we have all been waiting for! Take the worry out of your IT.
We have implemented this solution in its Beta version to a few clients who cant love it enough.
The cost savings and the Microsoft guarantee of a 99.9% uptime tightly integrates cloud based services and on premise workloads to enable the users to maximize your current technology.
You can add on this solution at your own pace and needs, to get the full benefit of cloud computing that works for your business.
Kotori is a certified Microsoft Partner; ask us how to take the future of your business to the Cloud today.
Are We Green Yet?
Well we hope not to see $5.00 a gallon, but it looks inevitable. Sure it would be nice to drive a small gas sipper, but most people cant fit their families in any of these. Workers still need big trucks and vans, public transportation prices rise because of gas, your commercial workers need to charge more to the consumer for travel time. What are we doing about our future? Is electric the answer? Not likely. Not enough power and the recycling issue for the old batteries would be a nightmare. Our country relies too much on the Middle East for their oil, in Canada their now extracting oil from soil in the Northern part of Alberta, this would be good to cut the Middle East out, however to process for extracting the buy product is extremely expensive. So instead of looking to the Government and oil companies for a solution, (which is not in their best interest) lets find out what the Automotive industries are going to do, they are the ones manufacturing these necessary liabilities. Air Products. Inc, in a joint venture with Toyota opened the first ever pipeline feed hydrogen fueling station in California. Is this the future of transportation? A resounded YES is the answer! GM as well as Honda has been manufacturing and testing these H vehicles since early 1999. It is amazing what they are doing. Honda issued the first public H vehicle on the market this year, the Honda FCX Clarity. A very sporting looking ride, it looks like any new Accord thats on the road today. The best part of all this is ZERO emissions! The cars only emit water vapor. Pure H2O. I dont want to just limit all the kudos to GM and Honda. Toyota, Mercedes and others for the past few years have been researching this alternative as well. And it was Toyota that did open the first public station. Will we see more stations around the country? We can only hope that our future will be environmentally safe as well as affordable to us, the consumers.
Virus Attack of the Mac!!!
Over the years we keep preaching, you need good anti-virus software on all your computers. I must talk about it every time someone asks me about a new computer. For years the Mac users always told me, I dont need anti-virus software for my Mac it does not get viruses. Well for the most part that was true. However, it is not true because Macs are impervious to viruses. The simple fact is that they are not that popular yet with the masses. I am sure the Mac addict will call me on the floor with this but it is true, the world is still running Windows. Windows has a much larger market penetration than Macs do. However, this is starting to change as more and more folks get Macs. The hacker and malware writers are seeing that more and more consumers are using Macs.
Recently this month there was a new Mac Defender virus that came out. It is a bit like the fake Windows Anti-Virus application. It pops up on your screen telling you that you have a virus. See a full write up at ARS Technica. If you have the virus or may be victim to this scam please review the Mac support article.
I say it again. If you own a pc, mobile phone or even a tablet and surf the internet a lot doing research or doing whatever it is that you do. We highly suggest that you get a good anti-virus program for your pc. When you get it make sure you have it setup properly to protect you and your data from the hackers and data thieves. If you are looking for a few good suggestions take a look at the following: Vipre, Kaspersky, ESET (PC and Mac). For our clients we suggest Vipre. The others that are listed are good as well.
PSN logins exploited again, Sony takes pages offline
This isn't as bad as it could have been -- Sony's PSN hasn't exactly been hacked again -- but what can only be described as a glaring oversight looks to have forced the company into hastily switching off PSN logins on its websites. The issue? If you legitimately forget your password and need to reset it, previously all you had to do was type in your e-mail address and date of birth, then choose a delightfully cunning new password. Sounds good? The problem is that if you were a PSN member before the hack then both your e-mail address and your date of birth (plus a lot of other frightening stuff) is known to the hackers. So, whoever has the millions of rows of data that were exposed could, in theory, re-exploit any account. Sony was made aware of the issue and those pages are now offline again, which should make the Japanese government feel just a little big smug.
Update: Sony has confirmed that there was "a URL exploit that we have subsequently fixed." However, the company indicates there was "no hack involved." So, remember kiddies: exploits are not hacks -- not until someone starts having fun with them, anyway.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/18/psn-logins-exploited-again-sony-takes-sign-in-pages-offline/
Internet and Your Privacy
So, I just had my birthday this past weekend. While I was enjoying my birthday early in the morning my SMART phone started going off like crazy. By the end of the day, I had 3 pages of Facebook birthday wishes. I was totally happy! Sure most of them only said, Happy Birthday. But it was the fact that so many of my Facebook friends took those 10 seconds and thought of me. It is that very feeling that puts our privacy at risk. I mean honestly you know that when someone posts on your wall that their friends see that information as well. That means, you take 3 pages of people that posted Happy Birthday on my wall that now know my birthday is April 2nd AND they may also know that I turned 29 again (thats a joke!). Then take that number times the number of friends they have. Oh my, there are over 4500 people that know when my birthday is. Anyways, my point is that, as the social networks out there strip us of the personal data that so many of us grasp on to, what choices are you making? The only way to be safe is to know what information you are giving away online. Facebook is famous for just giving away your privacy and then having you opt out if you dont want it just given out. A few months ago, Facebook was going to give all of your contact information to the software developers unless you opted out. Luckily a lot of the user base caught wind of this and it became an issue so Facebook stopped. Mobile phones are another issue. Many of the new phones have GPS. If you are a user of FourSquare or Facebook Checkin, then you let your friends know where you are when you go places. Sounds fun right?! Well the establishments want to know this information so that they can market to you directly. Imagine this, you check in to your local Publix or Bi-Lo and then you get a text message with a link of all the specials at the store. Heck it even tracks what you bought last time and make suggestions of things you may be out of. This sounds neat, right? I mean you forgot that you were out of milk and eggs so it reminds you. This is that feeling I was talking about earlier. It seems like a good idea but think about what you have to give up. You have to give them your cell phone number, email address, shopping habits and birthday. Wow, give me what time you get home and when you go to work, then it would be a stocker app but wait I have GPS so I know that too!
I am not trying to be a fuddy duddy, but I am sure you get my point. As all of these really convenient things come out, I want you to think of what you have to give up. If you hate junk mail and junk email think of junk text messages and pop ups on your phones!!!!