• There’s a new Wii device on the horizon – Wii U Game Console (NY Daily News)

• Do you have thousands of dollars just laying around in your marketing budget? Check out these business cards – only $1,500 apiece! (Geekologie)

• Happy 5th Birthday to the iPhone – see how it has changed over the years (CNN Tech)

Wishing you a healthy and happy 2012!

Please note that Now IT Works will be closed on Monday, December 26th, in observance of the Christmas holiday. All support calls will be handled on the following business day.

All the best to you, your family and your organization.

We hope you have a wonderful holiday!

• Retail computers are slow out of the box.  Each of the consumer computers are so cheap because a dozen of more vendors paid the PC manufacturer to install their software on there, thus your brand new fast computer is approximately 25% slower because of this.

• A 90-day warranty just isn’t enough.  It’s true some computers come with a 1-year warranty,  and you could argue that it’s cheap enough that you could dispose if something goes wrong, but who wants to replace their PC every year?

• Sticking with the theme from #3, if you are going to buy a cheap PC now and replace it every 12 months, you should consider the cost of reinstalling software, migrating data, installing printers and getting the personality of your old PC reinstalled on the new PC.  Hint – you’ll always forget something.

• When you purchase consumer computers, the manufacturer is going to source the lowest cost technician to come out and fix your PC.

• Let’s be honest, at some point, your computer is going to face some malfunction and you are going to be down.  100% of these computers can be reinstalled but this means it will be in the same state that you  got it on Day 1 – see #2.

• Tech support at Now IT Works is available by phone or email and you’ll always speak to a live person.  It’s tough enough contacting technical support for a retail purchase, but when you add the technical hurdle and then a language barrier, expect a headache.

Contact your Now IT Works account manager before making any new purchases for your business.

“A cost-benefit analysis is often a primary driver of the telecommuting process, because the company wants to achieve cost savings over costs associated with the traditional workplace setting. Most often, cost savings are attributable to increased productivity, decreased staffing needs and reduced office space requirements.”

To gather data on the costs and benefits with allow your employees to telecommute, click on this link to answer questions that may help you.

If you are interested in setting up telecommuting opportunities for your business, please contact your Now IT Works account manager today.

1 – When someone loses their phone, or it gets stolen – person(s) unknown would have immediate access to all of your information. Calendar, contacts, email, remote access to your PC (if enabled), spouses information, child/ren school contacts, etc.

2 – It’s not the law yet – but just wait. Connecticut privacy law imposes up to $500,000 in Civil Penaltiies for Misuse of Personal Information (http://www.mofo.com/news/updates/bulletins/14042.html)

3 – SmartPhones are just as susceptible to viruses and bad applications (Droid more so than Apple). Here at Now IT Works, we are launching a mobile security product soon simply to handle this (not specifically a PIN related issue, but mobile security in general)

Finally, PSA aside – all the cool kids are doing it. Of course I’m kidding, but honestly, every person I’ve seen with an iPhone or Droid has a lock on it. Whether they are trying to keep parents, boy/girl-friends or spouses out – everyone does it for the same reason – to keep prying people from accessing the information.

Do you have questions or concerns about the security of your business’s mobile devices? Contact your Now IT Works account rep to discuss.

• 3 year hardware warranty.  As opposed to a 1-year limited warranty with the DLink.

• Support.  Should something go wrong with the DLink, we can get support, but on a limited basis.  The Fortinet has a 3-year, 8×5 telephone support agreement.

• Security.  DLInk has some basic security features, but the Fortinet allows us to protect against spam and malware protection.

• Monitoring. DLink doesn’t give me the ability to see anything that is going on inside your network or address Internet connection issues – the Fortinet gives us this visibility.