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Looking for the perfect gift for your geeky dad this Father’s Day? Look no further, here are some of the best gifts we’ve discovered…

• 640 GB USB Portable Hard Drive – Leather Wallet (available from VerbatimStore)  “Thin, portable and executive-inspired–the Verbatim Wallet Drive looks like a billfold but holds something even more valuable—your memories and data.”

• Space Invaders furniture – perfect for a game room or ‘man-cave’ (designed by Igor Chak)

• Noise Canceling Headphones (available from Bose) – these are especially great if your dad travels frequently. Comfortable and light, they also come with an airplane adapter.

• Outdoor Inflatable Theater (available from Hammacher Schlemmer) – that’s right, a 72 inch screen frame, weather-resistent PVC construction and it inflates in 5 minutes or less.

Do you have any fun & geeky ideas for Father’s Day? Feel free to leave them in the comments section!

Here is a post from our archives – still relevant and designed to keep you and your passwords safe:

For those of you who still use the word ‘password’ as your password for all of your Internet logins – I have an idea that may help to make you more secure, without requiring you to remember all of the passwords.

Previously, I would help people create Excel documents that listed out all of the websites, usernames and passwords. Then we would password-protect the document with a master password. This way, users had all of their passwords in an easy-to-read document that could only be opened with a master password – this master password would be the only one they would need to remember.

Some folks liked this idea, others did not – most of them did not use this consistently.

I recently stumbled upon a new program that I think will help users with their passwords – it uses the same concept as I’ve just described, but additionally it has some really useful features.

This new program is called KeePass – you can download a free copy of this software here.

Here are a few reasons why I suggest KeePass:

(more…)

Let’s get back into the swing of things with some link action!

• This is why you shouldn’t click on everything that someone sends you in Facebook – or email or Twitter or… (CNN Tech)

• Here’s a helpful guide that pretty much says it all – What to do if your iPhone falls in the toilet, a mug of beer or pile of snow (Tech News World)

• If you are cursing your XM/Sirius technology today, here is easy access to the new channel line-up.

• We had no idea that this existed but apparently today is “Star Wars Day” so be prepared to hear geeks everywhere say “May the 4th be with you” – you’ve been warned.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

From one of our most trusted vendors, Seneca Data, here are a few higher-risk transactions to be on the lookout for, to keep your business safe from customer fraud. Remember, fraud can happen at anytime, any place and to anyone.

• New customer attempts to make a very large credit card transaction

• Customer doesn’t know the CID (Card Identification Data) found on the back of the credit card, indicates they do not have the actual card

• Customer’s address does not match while confirming address verification

• Customer asks that you try lower dollar amounts when a decline message is received

• Customer instructs you to try different expiration dates when initial attempts fail

• Customer calls a few minutes before closing and wants several large-ticket items

• Customer seems overly concerned about delivery time frames to overseas destinations

• Customer attempts to place a large order using several credit cards to obtain the total authorization amount

Some of the major credit card companies have resources available to keep you safe from fraud:

VISA
800-847-2750
VISA Fraud Web Site

MASTERCARD
800-622-7747
MASTERCARD Fraud Web Site

DISCOVER
800-347-1111
DISCOVER Fraud Web Site

AMERICAN EXPRESS
800-528-5200
AMERICAN EXPRESS Fraud Web Site

Keep yourself protected and have a great weekend!

Do you check your email, update your Facebook status or surf the web within the hour before you hit the hay? Of course you do! But don’t feel bad, approximately 95% of all Americans are guilty of the same thing. The bad news is, the mental stimulation from just a few minutes online is enough to keep your body from winding down to a restful state.

In order to fall asleep, and stay asleep, don’t check your email or bring your laptop to bed and try to limit your Netflix watching on your iPhone to earlier in the evening. Those emails will still be there in the morning so deal with them then, when you are well-rested and better able to handle the situation.

To start off 2011, we decided to invest in some new & exciting technology for our own infrastructure. Here is how we have improved because of it:

• Reduction of hardware; from 6 servers down to 3

• Increased speed by 35%

• More efficient fail-over strategy

• Savings of approximately $3,000 in taxes

Here is an article that talks a little bit more about the last bullet point – a Cinderella tax break which is set to boost IT sales this year. (Computer World)

Did you know that since 1/1/2010, the United States Department of Transportation has released new guidelines for the packaging and transportation of batteries for recycling?

These new guidelines include:

• Taping all battery terminals with non-reactive tape or placing each battery in a non-reactive plastic bag

• Use only non-reactive plastic containers to house batteries for storage and transportation

• Only chemically compatible batteries should be packaged together, and cannot be mixed with other batteries.

• No cracked or damaged batteries

• Properly identifying the container as containing batteries

To read the full document from the DOT, click here.

Since Google has brought awareness to this, 2-step verification is popping up everywhere. Some banks are doing this now and Facebook is starting to as well.  It’s the next step to make sure your private online life stays private.

For those of you who hate passwords, you’ll need to get past that somehow.  Sadder news for you still, you will only continue to have more passwords to remember.  A word of caution – don’t use the same password for all of your accounts. Think of all the other things in life that you don’t/wouldn’t reuse, maintain that same sensibility for your passwords.

Read more about Google’s Two-Step Verification for Enhanced Security

According to this article, 57% of businesses do not have a proper disaster recovery plan, I encourage you to start thinking about putting this on your to-do list for 2011.

Here are some interesting facts from our clients:

• 90% of our clients are backing their data up remotely, through some sort of automatic backup tool

• 98% of our clients are able to restore their computers entirely after a crash, regardless of PC type

Read the full article here: 57% SMBs Have No Disaster Recovery Plan (Informationweek)

It’s an unfortunate situation but it happens all too frequently in this unpredictable economy of ours – when budgets get tight, businesses will make cuts to their IT expenses. This can create a new set of problems if you are not maintaining the PC services, software and equipment for your business.

Read this article from Network World about how Deferring Your IT Maintenance Could Be a Ticking Time Bomb

As our Blue Steel customers already know, we provide weekly and monthly maintenance, after hours so we don’t disrupt the normal work day.

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