Archive for June, 2010

Has the BlackBerry Enterprise Server Lived Beyond Its Time ?

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

For quite, BlackBerrys and the BlackBerry Enterprise server has been a hard combination to beat because of RIM’s (Research In Motion) push technology.

Setup a Microsoft Exchange account on a BlackBerry and you have a very powerful combination.  Email is sent both inbound and outbound with almost no delay. Additionally, the calendar, contacts, notes and tasks are also synced wirelessly.

Companies such as Fox News have created apps which take advantage of the push technology and send news alerts as they happen.

All of this is great, but there is one exception, Microsoft Sync.  Microsoft Sync offers many of the same features as the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, but with less cost.  RIM has recently tried to remedy this by providing small businesses with a slimmed down version of the server software, and at zero cost.

The problem is, the overhead is still there and owners of BlackBerrys are required to pay a higher fee to their wireless phone provider.

Recently I had a conversation with an insider from a Fortune 100 company who stated they have more issues with syncing BlackBerrys than other devices by a very wide margin.

Time will tell which system offers the best business solution.

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How Much is Your Time Really Worth?

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Recently I had a conversation with an executive from Clifton Park, NY. She was relating her frustrations about how there were so many obligations vying for her time. She then went on to say how much time she was spending on email.

This business owner spends a substantial amount of time out of the office and communication with her staff is vitally important.

After listening for a while I suggested a solution  which would save her about 30 minutes per day.  I informed her the change would be seamless and would not require any additional technical time per month.

At first she didn’t want to increase her monthly costs and was reluctant to make the move.  When she realized it amounted to only a few dollars per day, she decided to go ahead.

I spoke with her recently and she is very happy with her decision.  While it hasn’t eliminated all her frustrations, it has dramatically reduced them.

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Tired of Dealing With Security Flaws?

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Adobe Reader.  The critical flaw could let an attacker (or attackers) take control of a computer.

Microsoft also released multiple software patches which address 34 flaws in Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Windows, among others.

While Adobe will not be releasing the fix until tomorrow, our client’s who are using our Family Protection Services have already had a temporary fix put in place and will be receiving the updated fix automatically tomorrow.

Another benefit to our Family Protection Services is that we test the patches before they are applied.  Our goal is to Eliminate Frustration, not cause it, and because sometimes the cure is worse than the cause, we test everything.

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I Just Won a BMW

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Earlier today I was informed that I won a new BMW in an online promotion.  Well that is  what is in the email, so it must be true.  At least that is what Chris Shedd wrote me.

It seems the only thing I needed to do was provide my full name, address, date of birth, telephone number and country.  Then contact Mr. Kelvin Williams of the BMW Automobile Company.

Oh, according to Mark White,I have also won 750,000 GBP (pounds).  I guess this is my luck day.  As long as I don’t click the  link or reply back.

Obviously the spammers and identity thefts are still out there.



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Intelligence Increase or Decrease?

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Is technology helping us to become smarter, or dumbing us down?

It wasn’t long ago when everyone had phone numbers memorized and could rattle them off at the drop of a hat.  How many numbers do you remember right now?  If you lost your cell phone would you be able to call ten or twelve family members or friends from memory?  Does this free our mind for other more important items, or reduce our capacity for remembering?

Google is great, but what happens when we can’t connect?  When you Google something do you learn about and internalize it, or just read it?

Do you try to figure solutions on your own or just go to the computer and use Google?  Does using Google reduce our puzzle-solving competency or reduce the time to resolution, freeing us up?

Have we lost our creative ability or does surfing the Internet spur our creative juices?

We rely so heavily on our computers, BlackBerrys, iPhones, and Google, many people almost go into a breakdown if they are unable to use these devices.  What would happen and how would we live if we didn’t have these available to us 24 hours a day?

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Observations From A Town Hall Roundtable

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Last night I attended a government round table with several leaders of the Clifton Park and Saratoga area, including community and government representatives.  At the beginning people were asked to state who they were, who they represented, and a little about their organization.

Two of the gentlemen were from regional business associations, and I found their take very interesting.  The first person said they represented a certain geographic area, how big they were and what services they provided to their members.  The second gentleman also spoke about their size and coverage, but then made a change.  He talked about a situation where one of his members had some goods held up a a port of entry (which is nowhere near our area).  He then went on to say that within a day, the goods were release.  My take-a-way from this is one person told what they can do, while the other told what they did.  Bottom line, actions speak louder than words.

I am pretty annoyed that the new health care legislation includes the requirement that all business transactions exceeding $600.0o in a year require the business receive a 1099.  This is a burdensome and very costly undertaking for small businesses.  When I brought this to the attention of our representative, he said he was aware it was in the bill, didn’t know how it got there and was working on getting it repealed, but was not sure if he would be successful.  My comment was it is easier to get poor legislation removed before signing than after.  I guess not so common sense.

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