Best List App: Clear

Posted on 17. Feb, 2012 by rosa [archives]

I am a lover of lists.  They bring my life into focus and help prioritize my time.  That said the iPhone is a list-lover’s dream.  While I’ve been moderately satisfied with “notes” and “reminders” they’re not quite as organized as I prefer.  A new gesture based app has stolen my list loving heart; Impending Inc. launched their new app, Clear, this week. Continue reading “Best List App: Clear” »

How to Choose a UPS

Posted on 02. Feb, 2012 by Richard [archives]

If your office has servers, a phone system, or a tendency for power outages, then a UPS is a must.

What is a UPS? A UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) is basically a device that will temporarily power your computers, servers, phone systems and other important devices when power is lost. It will also protect you from spikes and surges (the function of a typical surge protector). In higher-end models, your equipment is also protected from brown outs and over-voltages, which will increase the life of your equipment if your electrical lines tend to fluctuate (think old buildings and rural areas).

You may come across a ton of jargon when researching UPS’s: Frequency rate, transfer time, pure sine wave, online, automatic voltage regulation, etc. After checking the specs of a UPS online you may feel a bit overwhelmed. If you are just looking to keep your equipment running and unsaved data safe during an unlikely outage, then what you need to consider is below.

Total Power of All Equipment Connected to it:  Just check the equipment you’re looking to protect, ie.  phone system, server, computer and monitors. Find out the wattage requirements for those devices and add them up. Make sure the “Output Watt Capacity” of the UPS is rated 20% or more of that total. Otherwise, the battery in the UPS may not be able to keep your equipment powered during an outage. Continue reading “How to Choose a UPS” »

The Ultrabooks of 2012

Posted on 19. Jan, 2012 by KrebStar [archives]

One of the more prominent buzzwords at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was “Ultrabook.”  Like Netbooks, Ultrabooks are all about light weight portability.  But Netbooks are small in both size and power, designed for light personal use such as web browsing and word processing. Ultrabooks, however, match the size and processing speed of a full laptop, while going super thin and shedding a few extras to lighten the load.  Intel coined the term, setting a few criteria one must meet in order to call oneself an “Ultrabook”:

• Have a thin and light design that meansures less than 22mm (0.83″) at its thickest point.
• Include ultra-fast start-up, which can include Intel Rapid Start Tech or third-party solutions.
• Go from hibernate to keyboard interaction in 7 seconds or less, waking up from sleep “much, much faster.”
• Offer between 5 and 8 hours of battery life, even in the sleekest form factor.
• Include features that help protect itself and its user, including Intel Anti-Theft Tech.

So, are Ultrabooks anything more than the PC world trying to catch up to the Macbook Air?  In a word, no.  But that’s okay.  Not every CES can be revolution, so we’ll settle for evolution.  And the Macbook Air alternatives are evolving in some interesting ways:

(*Note: These models are being released in 2012 so pricing is not available yet, but they should all fall between $800 and $1,500.)

The Acer Aspire S5

The Acer Aspire is a super skinny 0.68″ at its thickest point.  It weighs 3 pounds, has a 13.3″ screen, and a handsome magnesium alloy chassis.  For ports, it includes USB 3.0, HDMI, and the super fast Thunderbolt port Apple has made famous.  For sound, Dolby Home Theater audio.

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How to VPN from an iPad

Posted on 09. Jan, 2012 by Ruddy [archives]

Did you know you can VPN to your office computer with an iPad? Check out the video below for a tutorial:

Assessing Office Bandwidth Needs

Posted on 05. Jan, 2012 by Charles [archives]

Many business managers are faced with the daunting task of Internet Service Selection.  From Provider jargon to complicated sales methods, the idea of picking a provider can be complex.

Think of the plumbing throughout your home.  The pipes are wire, and the water running through them is data.  We understand that as the diameter of your pipe increases, the more data, or water, can freely flow through them.  Bandwidth is the rate of transfer of your water, the speed at which you connect to the internet. Continue reading “Assessing Office Bandwidth Needs” »

Turn your old PC hard drive into a USB drive

Posted on 29. Dec, 2011 by Ruddy [archives]

Have an old laptop or desktop that you want to get rid of? If you’re in need of an external drive for backup or travel purposes, don’t toss that computer away! You can repurpose the internal drive on your computer to an external drive. It’s financially feasible and easy to do it yourself. Here is what you need to look out for and how to do it:

• Size: Hard Drives typically come in two sizes, laptops carry 2.5” hard drives and desktops carry 3.5” hard drives. Make a note of what size hard drive your computer has, you’ll need it later.
• Interface: Hard Drives today come in two different interfaces, or connectors – think different type of USB cables for different MP3 players. The same idea applies to hard drives. These interfaces are SATA and IDE. Please refer to the picture below on how to identify the two; IDE is on the left with the wide cable and SATA is on the right with the much thinner cable. Continue reading “Turn your old PC hard drive into a USB drive” »

The Ultimate Conference Room

Posted on 22. Dec, 2011 by KrebStar [archives]

When it comes to the latest conference room fads, we’ve seen the good, the bad, and the scary.  To turn your conference room into the most productive, collaborative place its meant to be, check out our list of the coolest technologies for the ultimate conference room.

Interactive Whiteboards – Popular in education but growing in business, interactive whiteboards combine a computer image projected onto a white board, and a digital pen or stylus allowing you to interact with it.  It’s a powerful tool for collaboration, allowing collective notes and ideas to be printed or emailed to participants. You can even collaborate with other white boards in other locations, sharing ideas in real time.

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Smart Glass – Glass walls are a popular choice for modern conference rooms because they provide a clean, open feel.  Of course the sacrifice with glass is privacy.  Smart glass uses electricity to change the properties of the glass, so that at a push of a button the glass can change from transparent to opaque. Continue reading “The Ultimate Conference Room” »

The 5 Features You Want Your Phone System to Have

Posted on 08. Dec, 2011 by KrebStar [archives]

These days phone systems can do a lot more than transfer and conference.  The most modern systems come with so many features, it can be hard to separate the ones you’ll never use from the ones that can change the way you do business.  Our phone system experts weigh in on the 5 most useful cutting edge features out there today:

Single number reach -Tired of leaving messages like this?: “Call me at my office…  Unless it’s after 2, then call me on my cell.”  With single number reach, calling one phone number rings your desk phone and your smartphone.  For many, the benefits of single number reach seems superfluous, until they get used to it.  Fewer missed calls, less phone tag, and more flexibility ensue.  With a similar feature called Find Me Follow Me, decide on a set number of rings to your desk phone before it tries you on your home of smart phone number.

Plug & play – For those who travel, plug & play is essential for making any room with an Ethernet jack your “second office.”  Plug into any Ethernet jack in the world and you keep your extension, caller ID, everything.  Extension-to-extension calling works as if you were in the office.  When you use your Voip phone in another country to call back to New York, and it will even bill as a local call. Continue reading “The 5 Features You Want Your Phone System to Have” »

Digitize Business Cards with CardMunch

Posted on 17. Nov, 2011 by KrebStar [archives]

In the not-so-distant future, paper business cards will probably be a thing of the past.  Like it or not, technology has already advanced to the point where, hypothetically, we could transmit digital business cards with a lot more information, just by bumping phones.  In the meantime, there’s an interesting business problem that ought to be solved.  Keeping track of our network of contacts is too hard.  LinkedIn is great, but it takes work.  Its a powerful tool but requires a real diligence to create an online network that’s even remotely representative of your real life network.  And not all of your contacts are on LinkedIn.  So when you leave your next networking event with a dozen new business cards, shouldn’t it be easier to organize it all?

Enter CardMunch.  Take a picture of that business card, and it all gets digitized automatically with the popular iPhone app.  The CardMunch app has already digitized millions of business cards. Continue reading “Digitize Business Cards with CardMunch” »

Use your iPad as a Conference Room Computer!

Posted on 03. Nov, 2011 by KrebStar [archives]

As you may already know, its possible to display your iPad on a TV screen. The iPad 1 comes with the ability to send and play media wireless to your TV with Airplay (provided that you have an Apple TV hooked up to the same network).  Why is this important to you? Continue reading “Use your iPad as a Conference Room Computer!” »