I wrote about the PogoPlug a couple of years ago (Tech Bit 59). PogoPlug is small, inexpensive (under $100) device that turns an external USB hard disk into cloud storage you can access from any computer, either via a web browser or a small software download that turns your PogoPlug cloud into a drive on your computer (usually the P: drive).
No, it’s not time to enroll in your local bass fishing tournament.
This article is about a different kind of fishing, spelled phishing. When spelled phishing, it’s referring to when someone tries to get sensitive information from someone else by posing as someone they're not.
As P.T. Barnum is credited with saying “There's a sucker born every minute," which is what people or groups doing phishing are hoping unsuspecting recipients will be.
You don’t want to be one of them.
I have recently accepted been involved in a contract to support the Small Business Administration website that has me living, at least for now, in Washington D.C. while my family and home office remain in Aurora, Colorado.
Living and working a bit over 1,500 miles from home has forced given me an opportunity to apply several of the technologies I have written about in the past. Their integration should prove that it is possible to replicate your home office and communicate while you are on the road.
I’ve recently been asked to look at a couple of company’s websites. The first thing I check, by looking at the home page sources, is whether they are doing any kind of analytics.
Analytics involves adding a little bit of code to each page of your website that lets you track how many people visit each page, how they get to your website, and if they come from a search engine, what keywords they searched on to find you. Measuring what is happening on your website is vital if you want to improve it.
In the last article we looked at projectors for your presentations. Buying one for $400-800 can quickly return its investment compared to renting one from a hotel for $200+ per day.
You’ll still need to rent a screen from the hotel. One option, if you bring your own extension cord, is to ask only for the screen and defer on the A/V projector support package, which is often only a screen, an extension cord and a stand for the projector. Instead of the stand, just ask catering for a cocktail round to put your projector on (usually they don’t charge for those).
More and more, making presentations is part of business life. Whether it’s a salesperson doing a sales presentation, a training session, or your kid’s homework at school, there’s likely to be a PowerPoint involved. Without debating whether PowerPoint is the best idea in any of those applications, let’s just assume you’re going to use it.
Back in Tech Bit 24 I mentioned Priceline as a low cost option for hotels, the negative being you don't know the name of the hotel until you "win."
I had recommended using two websites, http://www.biddingfortravel.com and/or http://www.betterbidding.com/, which are forums where the members post their winning deals. Finding the relevant data is a bit of a challenge.
The last article talked about various tablet options. In my opinion, the battle will be between the iPad and various Andoid tablets.
It wasn't surprising to see a plethora of tablets at this year's CES. Enough that low cost Android tablets seemed to end up being the theme of the show. How many? The estimates vary, but easily 80 to 100 new tablets were on display. And it seemed like one in every four Chinese or Korean exhibitor had a tablet computer in their booth.
Usually the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January ends up having a "theme." It isn't a theme given to the show by the organizers, but instead some product category that seems to be pervasive throughout the show. Last year it was 3D television. This year it was tablet computers.
While tablet computers have been around for almost 20 years, they have been primarily premium upgrades from standard notebook computers. In the past, tablet computers were targeted at business users. Medicine was going to be revolutionized by tablet wielding doctors and nurses.
The middle of January the expected, but much anticipated, announcement of the iPhone on Verizon's network finally was official.
I wouldn't rush right out to buy one.
Even if you've been waiting for an alternative to AT&T's well known network issues, the iPhone being released this spring has two problems. First, and most significant, it is only a 3G phone, offering no real speed improvement over the current iPhone. Second, apparently it gets less battery life than the AT&T version.
