To begin, you must first open an account with LogMeIn at www.logmein.com. When presented with pricing plans, go ahead and choose the Free Edition. Once you’re able to login, you’ll be presented with a list of workstations which should be empty. Click on the “Add Computer” button at the top of the page, of course, this must be done from the computer you wish to connect to eventually. Clicking on this button will prompt you to download and install an application; this is a fairly simple install which requires just about no configuration. Run it, install it, and forget it.

Once your PC has been added to your account, log back in to the LogMeIn portal mentioned in the previous paragraph. You should now see the PC you just added to the list of workstations. At this point, you should test this connection from another PC to make sure it works. To remote connect to the recently added PC, just click on the Computer Name. We’re almost done, you will then be prompted with the username and password to the PC you’re connecting to, enter them. Finally, if you see a screen like the one below, go ahead and click on “Remote Control”, this will bring you right into the screen of the remote PC.

Now that you’re able to connect into the recently added PC from any other computer, now let’s learn how to access it from an iOS device (iPhone or iPad). Open up the App Store on your iOS device and search for LogMeIn; when you find it, download it, it is a free app. Once the app has downloaded, fire it up and enter your LogMeIn credentials when prompted. After logging in, you should be able to see the list of PCs. Finally, go ahead and select the PC you wish to login to and enter the login credentials to that PC. LogMeIn on iOS uses the touch screen to simulate mouse movements.

Verizon Network Extender

This first thing you should do is make sure you’re connected to the closest/strongest tower of your carrier.  Sometimes your phone can fail to recognize and connect to the nearest tower, which this manual update will fix.  If you’re a Verizon customer, you can do this by dialing *228 and then selecting option 2.  For Sprint users, dial *18 and wait for two short tones.  If you’re with AT&T, these updates happen automatically, but they recommend power cycling your phone if you’re experiencing dropped calls.

Sprint Airave

If service is still spotty, consider investing in a network extender.  The major carriers offer their own network extenders, acting like a mini cell tower that provides strong coverage in your previously dead zone.  Just place the extender near a window and hook it up to your broadband internet connection.  Calls will be passed uninterrupted from your extender to the rest of the network, so there’s no need to worry about calls getting cut off when you leave your home.

Sprint Airave

Verizon’s Network Extender will boost voice and data coverage for up to 6 simultaneous users (with a 7th channel reserved for 911 calls), and has customizable settings to give certain phones priority over anyone else using your signal.  The cost is $250, with no monthly access fee.  AT&T offers a similar device: the 3G MicroCell.  Functionality is comparable to Verizon’s model, and both are well-reviewed, but the 3G MicroCell comes with added privacy customization to block out your neighbors from hogging your bandwidth.  Cost is $200.   Sprints version, the Airave, gets overall positive reviews as well, although there don’t appear to be any privacy settings.  Cost is $280.

zBoost

As far as third-party network extenders, the highly reviewed zBoost offers 2,500 feet of coverage and works with all major carriers (although not compatible with Nextel-only network).  Cost is $200. Boosting your signal from a basement space is a little trickier.  This typically requires a repeater system, which brings the signal from a roof-mounted antenna down to the basement, where an amplifier rebroadcasts it.

How Shared Line Appearance works:

How to customize speed dials and manage call history:

How to set up your Voipstream phone at home:

How to set up voicemail for a new employee:

There are 3 types of forwards with your Voipstream phone:

There are 3 ways to transfer calls with your Voipstream phone:

All about making conference calls with your Voipstream phone:

What else would you like a video tutorial on?  Let us know by commenting below, and we’ll try our best to get a video up in the near future.

There’s been a lot of talk recently about computer systems that have been compromised and individuals who have been victims of identity theft online. We’ve seen attacks directed towards large corporations like Sony and MasterCard, both cases directed by the hacker group Anonymous. This resulted in security breaches putting thousands of users’ private data in the hands of the wrong people. Unfortunately, there’s very little we can do to protect personal data that’s managed by large corporations since we don’t direct their cyber security team. However, we can always take steps to prevent these types of breaches from occurring while using our personal and work computers.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol or HTTP is a mechanism by which our web browsers request and receive data from web servers. For example, when you visit google.com, your browser (the client) sends a request to google.com (the server), which then returns a webpage that can load on your browser. This process is possible thanks to HTTP. However, HTTP isn’t entirely secure in the sense that it isn’t encrypted – it doesn’t need to be for things like basic web browsing (searches, watching videos, or browsing images). There are cases where we would need to have an encrypted form of HTTP, that’s where HTTPS comes into play. As you would imagine, the S in HTTPS stands for secure.

The scenarios where HTTPS comes in handy are for activities like email, bank transactions, social networking, and online purchases. There have been several users who have fallen as victims to online scams due to the lack of an HTTPS enabled website. The general rule of thumb is that any website which is asking for something that is very private in nature, like a credit card number or personal user data, should have HTTPS enabled – if it doesn’t, stay away from it. It’s easy to tell if a website is HTTPS enabled or not. Head over to amazon.com and look at the web address that appears on your browser – it should read http://www.amazon.com. Now head over to citi.com, it should read something along the lines of https://online.citibank.com because it’s a banking website. The S is added by default. Please note, amazon.com is also HTTPS enabled, but not until it asks you for things like a credit card number.

HTTPS can be enabled in websites that don’t offer it by default, like Facebook and Gmail. This is very useful for those that would like the extra sense of security for networking websites. To enable HTTPS for Gmail, please refer to the Gmail support article below:

-http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=74765

To enable HTTPS for Facebook, please refert to the Facebook blog below:

-https://www.facebook.com/blog/blog.php?post=486790652130

The Internet is filled with websites we rely on day to day. We shouldn’t be afraid to use it for all the service it offers. However, we should be very careful as there are always people out there waiting for the next person to inadvertently fall for another scam. HTTPS makes sure that you won’t.

Apple’s iOS Mail app has the ability to communicate with a variety of email servers, such as Gmail, Yahoo!, AOL, iCloud, and Microsoft Exchange. However, setting these email services up on your iOS device doesn’t enable Push email by default. This means that when the email server receives an email, it will not arrive to your device that same instant. In this case, the iOS device will fetch for new emails on a user defined interval (every 15mins, 30mins, 1hr, or manually). In the long run, this will drain the device’s battery because it’s fetching for email even when their might not be new emails in the server. Additionally, the delay in receiving emails may be an annoyance to those power users that rely on receiving email instantaneously. In this post, we will teach you a workaround to this limitation by enabling Push email with Gmail accounts – this will only work with gmail.com accounts. Read on to find out how!

1. Open up the Settings app on your iOS device
2. Tap the Mail, Contacts, Calendars Menu
3. Tap Add Account
4. This is step is the most crucial. Instead of tapping the obvious Gmail account to add, tap Microsoft Exchange
5. Fill in the fields that appear as follows:
   1. Email: [youremailaccount]@gmail.com
   2. Domain: Leave Blank
   3. Username: [youremailaccount]@gmail.com
   4. Description: Anything you like, “Gmail” would work fine
6. Once all is filled in, tap Next on the upper right corner
7. At this point, you should see an additional field pop-up:
   1. Server: m.google.com
8. Once again, tap Next on the upper right corner
9. You should now see three services, Mail, Contacts, and Calendars. Each of these is synced with the corresponding Google mailbox, address book, and calendar. You can choose to turn them on ON or OFF at this point – ON would sync them with your iPhone, OFF will not. Once you did that, tap Save on the upper right corner
10. That should be it! Now, just to make sure that Push is enabled for your Gmail account, let’s do the following:
    1. Open the Settings app again
    2. Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars
    3. Tap Fetch New Data
    4. Tap Advanced
    5. Tap your Gmail account which was recently added
    6. You will now see Push, Fetch, and Manual – make sure Push is selected

Thanks for reading, and enjoy that Push sweetness!

This week, Google announced Google Drive, a file storage and sharing service to compete with Dropbox, Microsoft SkyDrive, SpiderOak, and SugarSync. Although not widely available yet, we have a pretty good understanding of how Google Drive will work and the features it’s offering. However, with great features comes great compromise. Let’s look at the some of the aspects to look forward to in Google Drive and reasons why some people might stay away from it:

• File Creation and Collaboration – Unlike Dropbox, which only allows you to store documents, Google Drive will have Google Docs built-in. This will allow users to create presentations, documents, and spreadsheets that can be easily opened with Microsoft Office by others. Additionally, you can collaborate with other users on the same file at the same time – changes to the documents will appear to each user in real-time. Users can also start discussions with others to make collaboration much more seamless.
• Gmail and Google+ Integration – Do you have a file you would like to share with others? Gmail and Google+ will be built into Google Drive, allowing users to email documents to others and/or publish them to their Google+ stream. No exporting and importing to other services required – this will be a very welcome end-to-end solution.
• Google Search – Not much else to say here. We all love and use Google for its very first product, search. If you have tons of files stored in Google Drive, Google Search will be built right in to help you easily locate those files you’re looking for.
• File Type Handling – Google Drive has the ability to open files for applications you might not even own. Did someone send you an Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator file you can’t open because you don’t have the required software? Just upload it to Google Drive and it will be able to read and display the contents of the file.
• Revision Control – Google Drive will easily track changes made to the files stored within it. All changes made to a file can be retrieved as far back as 30 days. Users will also have the ability to permanently save a revision which can be accessed anytime in the future.

Google Drive already carries several features not yet available to other competitors. We’re excited to see how it will integrate with all other Google services which so many people use – this is the advantage we think it has over its competitors. However, many news outlets are also expressing concerns over what this means for user privacy. Keeping all your data under one service will mean tighter control, but many users are willing to give that up for a seamless experience. As always, make sure you read the privacy statement provided by Google if you’re unsure whether or not you’re comfortable with Google Drive.

Internet Explorer was one of the first to the players in the browser wars and also one of the most successful.  Because Internet Explorer comes installed on Windows operating systems for many years they were kings of navigation.  Smaller companies turned to innovation to compete and as their products (Firefox, Chrome, Safari) became more popular IE began to feel pressure from consumers to improve their product.  Internet Explorer became the browser you used to download Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc. but the latest version may actually be a viable browsing option.

IE9 now contains accelerators; these are services which can be activated by highlighting a selection of text and then hovering over the icon that appears.  A drop down list appears that allows you to do functions such as searching for the selection, mapping it, etc.  Accelerators can also be reached by right clicking.  Chrome and Firefox already offer similar functions when you highlight a selection of text, but IE9 also lets you add additional accelerators to the dropdown list.  This can be a huge time saver if you regularly use a specific website for directions or definitions.  These can be changed by going to the “Manage add-ons” button and then choosing the “Accelerators” tab on the left, from there a link on the lower left of the window (Find More Accelerators…) will bring you to the library.  Unfortunately the library of accelerators leaves something to be desired but it’s still a pretty innovative concept.

 Opening your favorite websites can also be more effective when using IE9.  The browser allows you to “pin” sites to your task bar so that with one click you’re brought to your favorite news source, blog, etc.  This is similar to pinning programs that you frequently use to your taskbar.  The downside is that you’re cluttering your taskbar with icons when you’re not using them.  To use this simple shortcut pull the window tab down to the task bar.

To create a more streamlined and simple browser the address bar and search field have been combined.  This means you can search for keywords or navigate to a specific web page all from the same field.  To the right of the address/search field tabbed windows neatly line up saving on screen real estate.  Do I love this?  Yes.  Is it almost identical to Chrome?  Yes.

The interface has been redesigned and now boasts a very modern and clean look.  In fact it’s so clean and modern that when I used the search feature I couldn’t tell that I had used Bing, it was so similar to Google.  Overall IE9 is a clean, intuitive, and efficient browser that has taken cues from the major players, cleaning up its interface and providing much needed functionality.  It has definitely changed the way I see Internet Explorer, even if it hasn’t changed my default browser.

Take a note.

If you’re the kind of person who wakes up in the middle of the night with a great idea, don’t risk forgetting it because sleep is the greatest.  If you’re not the kind of person whose brilliance wakes them up in the middle of the night, neither am I.  At least we can say “Wake me up at 8:15.”

What am I doing today?

Check your schedule, without thinking, while on the move.  Don’t stare at your screen anymore than you have to.  The things around you are in higher def.

Send a message to Wray.

When Siri asks back what you want to say, try stringing together a few sentences.  Enunciate clearly and you’ll end up with surprising accuracy.  Sure you can type fast enough, but again, why bury your face in a screen more than you have to?

Remind me to swing by the bank tomorrow? 

Its the virtual string on your finger, so just speak your reminder and go back to your lunch.  When used habitually, Siri can alleviate “multitasking stress”, which is a term I just made up but I’m pretty sure I have it.  You can stay on top of your week while staying focused on what’s in front of you.

Set up a meeting with Bruce at 4pm Tuesday.

You don’t need to go back to your computer to set up a meeting.  Send an invite then and there.  Siri is smart enough to check against your schedule first and let you know of conflicts.

The best thing about these 5 Siri uses?  They’re reliable.  When Siri confirms, you’re good to go unless powered off or broken.   I mean, yeah it glitches out once in a while, but lets not cry about it.  Its still a tiny rectangle that can tell you the weather on the other side of the world, or wake you up in 20 minutes.

Video conferencing on a projector may not be what springs to mind when designing a conference room but Da-Lite’s newest screen, the Tensioned Conference Electrol®, has a number of advantages that make a strong case for changing that.  It’s an automated projection screen that seamlessly hides when not in use and takes the conference room camera with it, using a unique design to retract into a ceiling enclosure which, when not in use, is completely concealed by closure doors.  

The specifications

The Tensioned Conference Electrol® screen surface is available in all of Da-Lite’s usual screen surfaces: standard, high contrast, pearlescent, cinema vision, and high contrast cinema vision.  The tensioning system provides an extra flat surface which improves the image quality.  Having a taut screen also eliminates potential environment issues such as air vents causing a ripple in the screen.  Da-Lite currently offers 16:9 HDTV and 16:10 wide format dimensions.  The screens are currently available up to 10’ wide; however they’re happy to accommodate custom formats and sizes upon request.

What is it?

Positioned below the tensioned screen is a small shelf made to house your conference room camera.  An idea so simple it’s shocking we haven’t seen it before.  The shelf is supported by arms behind the screens surface that also function as tension support.  The power source for the camera is run along the drop down arms.  The camera shelf can accommodate cameras up to 12 ¼” wide X 8 ¼” deep X 7” high and includes a universal hole pattern for camera attachment.  Da-Lite’s engineers researched cameras currently on the market and then made a point of creating a shelf that was slightly larger than the biggest one they found.

Why does it matter?

Having a screen that can not only be concealed when not in use but also acts as a camera haven means that you no longer need to worry about how you’re going to mount your camera.  Normally a conference room camera needs a static position that can serve to protect the equipment and guarantee correct angles when in use.  This crafty invention has taken care of both of these problems with a simple shelf.  No longer having a wall dedicated to video conferencing means that your décor can continue uninterrupted allowing a sleek, sophisticated, and functional conference room.  Problems can arise if your building has lower ceilings – having the camera lower to knee height won’t be very useful or convenient.  So, consider your table/room dimensions before committing to this screen.

When comparing quotes for office cabling, it may seem intuitive to go with the cheapest company.  Sometimes this is true, but unfortunately the reasons said company are so cheap are typically red flags for your business.  Voice and data cabling is not easy, but it doesn’t require an advanced degree.  Consequently, there are a lot of “companies” that are really nothing more than a couple of guys trying to start a cabling business.  Considering how easy it is in 2012 to set up a DBA, make sure that you’re not cutting checks to a company that doesn’t know what they’re doing, or even worse, one that could go out of business before the job is done.

Be sure to check references.  Usually the cheaper the quote, the cheaper the overhead; meaning little is being invested back into the cabling company towards better internal processes and support.  This translates to an experience filled with unforeseen hurdles and delays.  If a quote comes in the cheapest and the company can provide several references for recent jobs, great.  If not, red flag.  A good predictor for the job quality you can expect is what comes with the quote itself.  Any company that is not providing floor plans is a red flag.  Clearly laid out floor plans help to eliminate miscommunication.  A good cabling company will want to start the process by visiting your space, for 2 reasons – 1: Features of the building will affect the cabling strategy, and 2: They will want to serve as consultants for your business.  It’s cheaper and less stressful to run more terminals during the initial project than to call the cabling company back for one-offs as needed.  A consultative cabling company will be able to help you design a plan that won’t need additions for the foreseeable future.

Of course, any growing company will need addition work done in the future.  Depending on how suddenly and quickly you hire and shift office layouts, you’ll want to factor turn-around times into your vendor selection.  Some companies want to avoid these one-offs all together, so you’ll want to clarify that the company offers ongoing support, and find out their turn-around times.

Cabling an office may seem straight-forward, but every building, office and company is different.  With the proper foresight, lead time and vendor selection, you can meet the deadline for your office move.  Call us if you have any questions.