Archive for the ‘Connectivity and Acess’ Category

Doctors and Hospitals Going Digital

Friday, December 14th, 2012

When your doctor must access your health records—everything from your allergies to the treatments you received during past visits—does he or she pull out a manila envelope brimming with scraps of paper? Or does your physician log onto the computer? The odds are becoming increasingly high that your doctor turns to the computer.

Electronic health records

This is due to the recent adoption of EHR software, or electronic heath records. The usage of EHR software by medial professionals has grown in recent years. The percentage of office-based physicians with access to EHR software stood at 57 percent in 201. This is an rise from the 50.7 percent of office-based physicians who used EHR software in 2010.

Electronic records good news for patients

EHR is actually a good thing for patients. With electronic documents, doctors are much less likely to lose information and can access your documents more quickly. No more shuffling through papers. With the touch of a button, they can now get all of your information, which gives doctors more hours to spend with patients and shortens the length of time patients have to wait.

Federal government encouragement

The government is even behind the movement to digital documentation. The government is also pushing physicians to file their prescription information electronically instead of by hand. This, too, seems sensible; pharmacists tend to make prescription medication mistakes when they’re endeavoring to read the often-incomprehensible handwriting of doctors. If they can access prescriptions electronically through their computers, the possibility of mistakes falls considerably.

The Live Chat Trend

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012

You want to make it as easy as possible for your customers to communicate with your business. You’d like your customers to have a simple and fast way to contact your small business if they have questions or inquiries about a product or service. Maybe, then, it is time to install a live-chat application on your business’s website.

Anyone home?

Recently, Ivana Taylor wrote an article for the American Express OPEN Forum about live chat and how it can make a company more accessible to consumers. Have you ever walked around a department store in search of an employee to answer your question? It’s frustrating. With live chat, your customers won’t have that encounter when visiting your website. They can ask you a question and get the response right away.

Live chat apps

There are many live chat apps out there. Some are expensive, but there are several out there that are great for the small business owner. A very simple one is called Olark’s live chat tool. This is simple to operate, and, as there are no extra features, easy to maintain. However, if you’re looking for something a little more robust, one of these three may be what you are looking for. LiveChat.com, SnapEngage, and LivePerson are all inexpensive and have the added feature of allowing the business owner to live chat via mobile device. This is very convenient if you are always on the go.

The trend

Live chat has become a recent trend as it can put companies ahead of their competitors. It can help small business owners win the confidence of clients and build long term relationships with them.

Chrome Extensions to Help You Focus

Friday, November 9th, 2012

We understand: You sit in front of your computer all day every day, typing reports, answering email messages, and creating presentations. It’s difficult to stand up to the temptation to run over to TMZ.com to catch up on the most recent celebrity news. But all those side trips to the Internet’s guilty pleasures can add up to a lot of lost time during the day. They can cut into your productivity, something your boss won’t enjoy. Fortunately, if you use the Chrome web browser, you can add several extensions intended to keep the Internet’s distractions from cutting into your workday. The Huffington Post recently took a look at the best distraction-blasting Chrome extensions. We concentrate on 4 below. Use these and you just might be surprised at how productive you can be.

Stay Focused

This neat add-on sets a timer for specific sites. As you go to the sites throughout the day the time counts down. Once it expires the add-on will block the site for the remainder of the day.

Cool Clock

Cool clock is a great add-on for Chrome if you find that you miss meetings or appointments. It comes with a clock, calendar, alarm, timer and hourly desktop time notifications. You can use this for more than just a tool to remind you about meetings. It can also remind you of important tasks you should complete.

Last Pass

Do you have a lot of passwords? Do you spend a lot of time trying to remember this one or that one? Last Pass is a Chrome add-on that tries to make this easier. It manages your online passwords for you so you do not have to fight to remember them.

Turn off the Lights

If you need to watch videos often as part of your job but get distracted easily, this extension comes in handy. Turn off the Lights dims everything else on your screen but keeps your media player bright so that you have to concentrate on the video you are watching instead of the other things you have open.

Please, I’d love to hear about your favorite extensions and tools.

Some Smartphone Habits Are Annoying

Friday, October 5th, 2012

Smartphones have made it less complicated to digest the news, find that new Thai restaurant, and connect with associates. They’ve also made it simpler to irritate people, too. That’s the downside of smartphones: They’re so addictive that they encourage undesirable habits that we’d otherwise rarely tolerate in others. Below are several of the most bothersome habits of smartphone users. As the saying goes, admitting that you have a problem is the first step in solving that problem. Are you guilty of any of the bad habits listed here? If so, knock it off.

Texting and driving

The most troublesome smartphone habit isn’t just annoying: It is also deadly. Too many people text and drive at the same time, even though doing this is against the law in most states. If you’re guilty of this sin, think about this fact: Texting and driving often leads to fatal accidents. You may not only hurt yourself; you might kill another individual. So, if you can’t resist your cell phone while driving, do the smart thing and shut it off. Then you won’t be inclined to make a possibly deadly mistake.

Paying more attention to your phone than your friends

Have you ever seen people eating dinner together but both of them are on their smartphones? This practice is very annoying for individuals. When you make plans with your friends and family, the purpose is to spend quality time with them, right? How can you do that if you are checking your email the entire time or texting? Remember how you have felt when you have been in the midst of a discussion and a friend has answered a text? Maybe you felt less important. Unless you want your companions to feel this way, avoid your phone when out with them.

Noisy keyboards

When you type your text messages, does your phone spit out a series of beeps, boops, and clicks? If so, you need to turn the sound off on your keyboard. No one around you really wants to hear you typing away the text version of “War and Peace.” So turn off that keyboard sound. The people around you in the checkout line, next to you on the bus or trying to work in the neighboring cubicle will enjoy it.

These are just my opinions… what are yours?

When Facing an Emergency Turn to These Apps

Friday, August 17th, 2012

There may be a lot of frivolous apps out there, but not all of them are. There are several out there that will even help you in emergency situations. We would like you to be prepared, so we have defined three apps that will not just help you in small emergencies, like your car breaking down, but larges ones as well, like tornadoes.

AroundMe

This app has been around for a while and is quite popular. It is a locator app that gives you the ability to find anything from a gas station to a hospital in your vicinity. You can see how this might prove useful, if say, you are in a strange town and your child unexpectedly gets hurt. You can simply open AroundMe and choose the hospital category to locate the closest hospital to you.

CPR & Choking

In emergency situations people are liable to loosing their cool, so this app is good for people who have had training in CPR or people who never have. It offers you full instructions, videos, and techniques to perform CPR if someone near you is choking. The University of Washington, in conjunction with the King County EMS, created this app to help people save lives, so needless to say, it is free.

Emergency Radio Free

This app gives you access to police, fire, weather, and other live emergency radio feeds around the globe. You can choose to only tune into the ones in your neighborhood so that you can stay up to date if there is a local emergency, a tornado, for instance, or an armed criminal on the loose.

Of course, no app, regardless of how impressive, will be able to defend you completely from harm should danger arise. These apps, though, will give you the chance to be better prepared should an emergency strike.

I’d love to hear about the Apps that you live by. 

Which Browser Fits Your Personality

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

There are many options for web browsers these days. Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and the tried and tested Internet Explorer are all plausible options. But what is it about a person that makes them choose to use one over another. Does your choice in browsers say something regarding your character? Blogthings.com thinks so.

Different Key Strokes for Different Folks

Blogthings.com thinks that Chrome users tend to be more bold. They are willing to try new things, even if those things haven’t been researched.

But what if you utilize Firefox? Based on Blogthings, you’re untamed and willing to buck the system. What if you use Internet Explorer? Then you’re likely to be a down-to-earth person who plays by the rules. Opera users, as reported by the quiz, like to chart their own course to victory. These users can adjust to any situation, the site says, with grace and elegance.

Explorer Still Number One

Of course, Internet Explorer remains the most popular web browser available, based on the numbers. The website W3Counter states that Explorer holds a market share of 28.8 percent in the browser world. Second is Chrome, with 26.4 percent. Firefox comes in third with a market share of 23.3 percent, while Safari pulls up fourth with 6.2 percent. Opera ranks fifth with a market share of 2.3 percent.

Searching for the Right Browsers

The Blogthings quiz is fun. It is a fascinating thing to ponder, but ultimately how do you choose which browser fits you? To work this out, our advice is to try different ones out. Don’t just use the one that was included with your computer. Try them all out. You might even find you prefer to use one for work accounts, and one for your personal accounts.

What is your favorite browser and why?

Your Small Business Can Benefit from a Tablet Computer

Wednesday, June 20th, 2012

You are doing everything you can for your small business. You have a website and a blog. You are getting your name out there via social media sites. So now you hear that you need a tablet to really help your business succeed. But tablets are costly and you are not really sure why you would need one or how it could be effective.

Reasons You Need a Tablet

There are actually many reasons why utilizing a tablet in your business can be helpful. It’s an incredible tool and here are a few reasons why it may be beneficial.

  1. Amazing presentations: In today’s topsy-turvy economy, finding faithful clients is no simple task. Consumers today are holding tightly onto their dollars. However, armed with a tablet computer, you can wow even the most tight-fisted of customers. Say you have a landscaping company. When you appear at a prospective client’s home for a business meeting, you can fire up your tablet and instantly show them before-and-after photos of your most recent landscaping jobs. This visual evidence—all displayed without having to boot up a more cumbersome laptop computer—might help you land a lucrative new client.
  2. State-of-the-Art: Many clients wish to work with companies that are using the latest in technology. Today, the “latest” is centered on tablet computers. If you are a freelance marketing consultant, you could use your tablet to show potential clients past examples of your marketing work. Clients will be reassured to see that you are using the latest technology to market yourself.
  3. Information at your fingertips: If you have to have instantaneous information about something, for instance, the cost of a house if you’re in real estate, tablets give you immediate access to that information. Staying on top of information means that you can confidently provide clients with accurate information.
  4. Signing documents is a breeze: To close a deal, you may want your clients to sign necessary documents. Thanks to several easy-to-use applications that you can download to your tablet, there is no longer any need to fuss with tons of paper that can be easily lost. Instead, pull up your documents on your tablet and have your clients sign the paperwork right on the screen. You can then easily email it to the people that need it.
  5. Easy access to data: With all of the cloud based offerings today (SkyDrive, iCloud, Dropbox, box, SugarSync and others) you can keep your important data sync’d between your destkop, tablet and even smart phone so it’s available when you need it.  Now that’s a compelling offering!

This particular article is not intended to address the various tablet options, so I won’t go into that right now.  But, come back to see me because with Microsoft’s fast approaching release of it’s new table, Surface, I’m sure I’ll revisit the topic with a better look at the various options.  In the meantime, tell me how you’ve used your table computer.

The Benefits of the Hybrid Cloud

Friday, April 20th, 2012

Cloud computing is very popular these days. The cloud is essentially a group of remote servers where people can store and access their data. People can store music, powerful programs, and important files in the cloud. As information kept in the cloud isn’t stored on personal computers this saves tons of computer memory. The result of this is that people gain access to more data without having to use up space on their computer, which often can slow it down.

Not All Clouds are the Same

However, not all clouds are the same. There is the public cloud, the one with which we are most familiarized. But then there’s the hybrid cloud as well. As its name implies, the hybrid cloud is a combination of two different types of clouds, the public cloud and a private cloud.

To provide a hybrid cloud, an organization may store some of their client’s more important or current data in-house and store older, archived, and less crucial files in the public cloud. They may also use the public cloud to store huge programs while keeping confidential information in-house.

The Hybrid Cloud Approach Makes Sense

Taking a hybrid cloud approach to data storage permits businesses to take advantage of the space-saving features of the public cloud without also exposing their sensitive current data to third-party providers. Put simply, the hybrid cloud provides businesses with protection, cost-savings, and efficiency.

It’s little wonder, then, that a great number of organizations today are moving toward a hybrid cloud approach. There is way too much data floating around today for smaller businesses to properly store. At the same time, businesses in today’s competitive environment don’t want to expose company secrets and sensitive consumer data to either their competition or hackers. The hybrid cloud could allow businesses to accomplish both feats.

If I were to be totally honest, I’d have to admit to an internal struggle about wrapping this article up on such a simple note.  The cloud is a complex suite of options that offers an almost infinite number of options, and even this explanation of a Hybrid Cloud is extremely simplistic.  But, in an effort to keep things simple and keep this article short, let’s stick with this description.  If you’d like to discuss this further, please call the number at the top of the page and we’ll talk.  Or, simply post your questions/comments here and we can delve deeper.

The Life Impacts of Constant Connectivity

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

Do you remember a time when you took your dog for a walk without texting, or watched a game with your friends without checking your email? It was called downtime and it was healthy for you. In this age of connectivity it appears as though that may be a thing of the past. Today having our devices with us at all times is not unusual, but is it healthy?

It’s extremely hard to argue that our gadgets—our smartphones, tablets and laptops—haven’t made our everyday life simpler. We can make dining reservations as we drive down the highway. If we’re lost, we can find directions on our smartphones. If we need recommendations on how to deal with our child’s fever, we can find medical advice by tapping the screen on our iPad.

But are we paying for this connectivity more then just monetarily? As we are always connected, we rarely, if ever, are alone with our ideas. Lots of people have wondered if this is negatively affecting the philosophical, pensive, aspect of humanity.

That is not a question we’ll explore here, but it’s something to think about. A more pressing question is, what is being continually plugged in doing to our health?

Always being connected takes its toll, whether it’s for work or for play. The human body needs time to rest, and not just when it’s asleep. If you find that you have trouble with being away from your phone, or have anxiety about not checking your mail, it may be time to shut off your devices.

While being connected helps grow relationships online it can harm ones offline. When you’re out with your friends and family members it may be good practice to unplug. It’s just too easy to text and check your email, forgetting to give the ones around you the attention they deserve.

If you are one that always has their gadget in their hand, think about how your life may being impacted by it. Try leaving it at home one day, or turning it off on the weekends. You may find that you are considerably more laid back because your brain is not focusing on more then just being present.

I know that some of this my be quite controversial and even difficult to swallow, but I would encourage you to try to “unplug” every once in an while.  What are your thoughts on the subject?

Protect Your Data by Being Aware of Security Challenges

Wednesday, April 4th, 2012

Technology is ever changing, and cyber-criminals will be ever adjusting to it. Recently, MIT’s Technology Review published an article concerning technology security threats that we should be aware of in 2012. As many of us devote a significant amount of time online, being familiar with these threats can help protect valuable data.

Stolen, Spoofed Certificates

One problem that the article mentioned is stolen or faked certificates. When you log into a website, your bank for instance, the traffic is encrypted with a “certificate”. This proves that the site can be trusted. The faking and stealing of these certificates was a popular strategy used by cyber-criminals in 2011. This can give them access to confidential information.

A Common Security Mechanism in Trouble?

Sites use certificates as a security measure more than any other means. If these are no longer viewed as trustworthy it could affect everyone, from the consumer, to the large company that is charged with protecting your information.

Another crucial security challenge that we should be aware of is “hacktivism”. “Hacktivism” is the combination of the words activism and hack. Groups like Anonymous and LulzSec target businesses that they feel are either guilty of wrongdoings or just wish to prove the companies have lax security. Whatever the reason, Technology Review says we should expect groups like these to continue their “hacktivism” well into the future.

Home Automation

The growing popularity of home automation also presents security risks in 2012. As Technology Review writes, a growing amount of automation systems connect alarm systems, thermostats, lights, and even the locks to homes’ front doors to the web. Consider the damage that hackers can do if they break into these systems.

All-in-all, the expansion of technological capabilities and our greater consumption of these technologies are creating additional opportunities for others to exploit them.  I make my living, and truly enjoy, using technology and I’m not trying to scare anyone.  But I do want make sure that you are aware of the vulnerabilities and do what you can to protect yourself.  If you need help, call the number above and we’ll see what we can do.