TechRepublic’s Jason Hiner has little use for an iPad. But he’s pinpointed six areas where it’s become people’s preferred device and is disrupting the PC market.

(Credit: Apple)

I’ve made no secret of the fact that the iPad was not designed for people like me. But that doesn’t blind me to the fact that the iPad keeps winning over new people and that it is soundly trouncing the traditional PC in several key areas where people want to use computers.

The numbers don’t lie. In the 25 months since launching the iPad, Apple has surged from fifth place in the global PC market to a dead heat for first place with Hewlett-Packard — if you include tablet sales as part of overall PC sales (see chart below).

 

From this chart, it’s easy to tell when Apple launched the iPad.(Credit: Apple Outsider)

More than anything, this chart tells us that a lot of people are buying iPads at times when they would have purchased PCs. Whether those are second PC purchases for the den or the bedroom, or PCs for young kids or elderly parents who simply don’t need a full computer, or iPads in place of laptops for traveling, we can’t know for sure — although we do know a little bit (more on that in moment). What we know for sure is that people are plunking down money for iPads and the traditional PC is taking a hit because of it.

The problem with the iPad

When I’m on a computer I spend most of my time doing active stuff like writing e-mails, writing articles, instant messaging with colleagues and friends, posting interesting links to Twitter and Google+, reviewing business documents, and editing photos. While you can roughly do all of those things on the iPad, every single one of them is more efficient to do on a regular computer. And with a laptop like the 11-inch MacBook Air or Asus Zenbook, I can do it with a form factor that is just as portable and convenient as the iPad.

When it comes to copying and pasting between programs, flipping back and forth between files, quickly searching and accessing information from an old e-mail message, or instant messaging with a bunch of different people at the same time, the iPad is just too cumbersome for me.

For reading and note taking, I love the iPad. It’s even grown on me for watching videos and scanning social media. But the bottom line is that I just don’t spend much time on it because it doesn’t meet my needs for most of the stuff that I do.

Nevertheless, I’ve asked myself how I use the iPad. I’ve questioned family, friends, and colleagues about their iPad use. I’ve talked to strangers in airports, at events, and in cafes. I’ve gawked at people in public and rudely looked over their shoulders in order to see what they were doing.

I’ve come up with a list of ways that people are using the iPad, and when they prefer it to a PC. That’s led me to six scenarios where I consistently see the iPad taking mojo away from the PC.

The iPad’s winning scenarios

1. Business meetings

Many of the iPad’s earliest adopters were business executives and managers. This crowd quickly discovered that the iPad was the perfect device for people who spend their day in meetings. It’s great for viewing PDFs and other documents, pulling up a detailed calendar view, jotting down notes, loading full Web pages, and accessing charts and reports. For smaller meetings, it can even work as a show-and-tell device that can replace a PowerPoint and a projector. The instant-on capability of the iPad is critical here. It may stay powered off for the first 50 minutes of the meeting, but when you need it in the final 10 minutes for a couple critical tasks its instant-on capability is a lot better than booting or trying to wake a Windows PC from sleep mode.

2. Couch and nightstand

As the PC revolution took off and analysts in the technology industry started looking at the ways people use a computer versus the way they use a television, the analysts came up with the concept of the PC being a “lean-foward” device (for doing something active) and the TV being a “lean-back” device (for doing something more passive).

That distinction worked for a while, but then a lot of people eventually started doing the two things at the same time. They’d position their home PC in a spot where they could see the TV, or sit with their laptop on the couch in front of the TV, or maybe use their smartphone to send messages, surf the Web, and use social networks while watching TV. For these users, when the iPad came out, it just made sense. They were no longer confined to a desk, or chained to a power outlet with their laptop, or limited to a small screen on their smartphone while watching TV. In that sense, the iPad became the perfect home PC for a lot of users — or at least the perfect second PC in many cases.

3. Conferences and events

The big question that a lot of attendees have faced in the past at trade shows and conferences was whether to carry around a laptop all day. Whenever I go to these events today, by far the most common machine that attendees are carrying around is the iPad.

Now, a lot of these are the same business executives and business managers mentioned in the first scenario, but it’s also a lot of other professionals who simply use the iPad for viewing conference materials, note-taking, using the Web to verify or look up something during a presentation, and scanning social media to see what other attendees are saying about the event. The key to this scenario is battery life. The iPad’s battery can easily last all day without a charge while most laptops cannot.

4. Airplane flights

Using a laptop on an airplane comes with a bunch of challenges and inconveniences. It’s difficult to shield your screen from the people sitting nearby so you don’t have privacy for sensitive data that you might be working with. The battery life on most laptops is somewhere between three and five hours, so there are lots of times when it can barely make it through a full flight. And if you’re taking an international flight, then you’re really in trouble.

Then there’s the space issue. Oversized laptops will barely fit on the tray table. If the person next to you is also using a laptop then you’ll be bumping elbows. And if you’re tall, you’ll have to hunch over your laptop and tuck your elbows into your sides. This is where the iPad’s form factor becomes key. You can operate it with or without the tray table, you can easily turn away from that nosy person next to you who keeps looking at your screen, and you can use it in a variety of different positions as you shift around during a long flight.

5. Quick kiosks

Setting up self-operated kiosks can be a great way to interact with customers and automate certain things, but they used to be expensive and complicated to get up and running. With the iPad, you can use apps like Kiosk Pro to set up a kiosk faster than ever before and at minimal expense. This makes the iPad a great tool for small businesses. One recent example that I’ve seen is a restaurant that put iPad kiosks in its lobby to let customers sign up for its mailing list in return for a coupon and being entered in a drawing.

Since Apple won’t let you disable the home button, there are special enclosures you can buy that cover the home button and lock in the iPad so that people can’t tamper with it. The key to this scenario is the iPad’s app ecosystem that has created a broad pool of high-quality, low-cost apps that extend the functionality of the iPad.

6. The kid machine

For the past couple generations, kids have taken to computers and technology with almost no trouble and with few exceptions. However, with the iPhone this phenomenon started to go a step further — or younger. Suddenly, 2-year-olds could figure out how to swipe to unlock the phone, touch the photo app, and flick their little fingers across the screen to flip through photos. Once we got a big screen version of this experience with the iPad, the sky was suddenly the limit for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. They had a computer that required no training from their parents. Apps like Intro to Math, by Montessorium took advantage of the iPad interface to deliver software that was inexpensive, easy to learn, fun, and effective.

On the other end of the spectrum, the iPad is easy enough to figure out that plenty of elderly people who never felt comfortable with a computer have been able to use an iPad to do a few basic things. The key to this scenario is the iPad’s multitouch interface, which requires no user manual and no instruction to get started.

What it means

When Apple released the iPad in March 2010, the most aggressive forecast I’d seen from any reputable source was that it would sell 5 million for the year. When the iPad sold 15 million units by the end of 2010, it shocked the technology industry. Then, in 2011, Apple sold over 40 million iPads. In 2012, Apple is likely to sell over 60 million iPads.

Keep in mind that the PC market as whole (not counting the iPad), sold over 360 million machines in 2011 and will approach 400 million in 2012, according to Gartner. So, it’s not like the iPad is running the PC out of business anytime soon. But it’s important to note that we’re at the beginning of a sea change.

While there are still plenty of people like me who have little use for the iPad, it’s increasingly clear that we are a distinct minority. The iPad’s ease-of-use, form factor, app ecosystem, and battery life make it a highly usable computer for lots of different kinds of users and lots of different scenarios in which people value its lack of complexity.

What’s going to be interesting to watch over the next couple years is whether the hybrid approach that is being promoted by Intel with its ultrabook/tablet combos, Microsoft with Windows 8, and Android tablet makers like Asus with its Transformer line will be able to gain transaction against the iPad with devices that try to combine the best of both worlds from a tablet and a PC.

I have my doubts. In bringing full PC functionality to the tablet, all of these solutions will have to sacrifice the most important features that are distinguishing the iPad: ease-of-use, long battery life, and instant-on. Plus, none of them has the wide selection of tablet-optimized apps that people can get on the iPad. I think it’s more likely that the tablet remains a tablet and continues to gain ground as a mass market alternative to the traditional computer in many scenarios.

Meanwhile, the PC/smartphone hybrid as we’ve recently seen envisioned by Motorola Webtop and Ubuntu for Android will have greater appeal and be a much better fit for technophiles and the enterprise.

Original Article:

Six scenarios where the iPad is trouncing the PC

Raspberry Pi, a credit-card sized computer designed to help teach children to code has gone on sale for the first time.

The Raspberry Pi is a bare-bones, low-cost computer created by volunteers mostly drawn from academia and the UK tech industry.

Sold uncased without keyboard or monitor, the Pi has drawn interest from educators and enthusiasts.

Supporters hope the machines could help reverse a lack of programming skills in the UK.

“It has been six years in the making; the number of things that had to go right for this to happen is enormous. I couldn’t be more pleased,” said Eben Upton of the Raspberry Pi Foundation which is based in Cambridge.

Raspberry Pi: Can it get kids to code?

Massive demand for the Raspberry Pi has caused the website of one supplier, Leeds-based Premier Farnell, to crash under the weight of heavy traffic.

School tools

The Raspberry Pi’s launch comes as the Department for Education considers changes to the teaching of computing in schools, with the aim of placing greater emphasis on skills like programming.

In a speech outlining those changes, Michael Gove mentioned the Pi, suggesting devices like it could play an important role in the kind of computer class the government envisages.

“Initiatives like the Raspberry Pi scheme will give children the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of programming,” he said.

“This is a great example of the cutting edge of education technology happening right here in the UK.”

Initially the £22 ($35) model of the Raspberry Pi will be offered for sale. A cheaper £16 ($25) version will go on sale later in the year.

The machine, which runs on open-source operating system Linux, can be hooked up to a typical computer monitor – with additional ports used to attach a keyboard, mouse and other peripherals.

It also features an ethernet port, meaning the device can make use of high-speed internet connectivity.

Supporters hope the thousands-strong community of people that has grown up around the Pi will help develop additional software and suggest uses for the device.

The Raspberry Pi going on general sale is likely to add to the buzz around the machine, but there are already a number of similar stripped-down computers on the market.

These include devices such as the Beagleboard and the Omnima MiniEMBWiFi.
Bottle-necks banished

The Raspberry Pi Foundation says it has already produced thousands of the machines, using a Chinese manufacturer.

It had originally hoped to produce the devices in the UK – “we want to help bootstrap the UK electronics industry” the group wrote in a blog post – but that turned out not to be possible at the right price.

But while production of the Raspberry Pi remains overseas, deals with two distributors, Premier Farnell and RS Components, mean that production volumes will be able to grow much faster than previously thought.

Rather than the foundation having to fund production, distributors have agreed to handle orders and deal with manufacturers paying the foundation a royalty on sales.

Dr Upton says that will help the project grow much more quickly than previously thought.

“We didn’t realise how successful this was going to be,” he said.

“This means we can scale to volume. Now we can concentrate on teaching people to program.”

Original Article:

Raspberry Pi by Rory Cellan-Jones of the BBC

Wikipedia Entry:

Raspberry Pi entry on Wikipedia

“Hello, I’m calling from the Microsoft Anti-virus team. We have detected that your computer is infected with a virus.”

If you receive an unsolicited call which starts with a sentence similar to the above then this is an attempt by a scammer to capture your credit card details.

The scam

Their story seems semi-plausible, but is fake: they’re calling from Microsoft and have noticed some strange activity from your computer. To gain credibility, the phone scammer may give you easily discoverable information, such as your name, address, and phone number – all of which is readily available on the internet. Once they have your confidence they tell you to go to a legitimate folder or the Windows Event Viewer and say that if there’s a lot of files or entries in there (which there will be) that it’s very bad and your computer is infected. But fear not! It can all be solved for a reasonable price, plus they’ll continue to support your computer for a year. Just give them your credit card number to be charged a recurring fee and they’ll remotely fix your computer for you.

A remote connection to the computer is set up using legitimate third-party software and it looks like their technician is doing something important by running check disk, disk cleanup and deleting some temporary files. The “technician” then tells the victim that they have a lot of malicious files on their computer and gets them to sign up for a one year support contract to solve the issues. After receiving the credit card details in an insecure manner, as well the name, address, phone number, email address & email password the bad infection appears to be “removed” by deleting the innocent items from the Event Viewer and turning off event logging. Of course, with unrestricted access to the computer, the people behind these operations have the ability to install malicious software they claim to be removing.

This type of scam appears to be on the increase so be forewarned.

Microsoft Technical Support does not make unsolicited telephone calls offering you technical support. You always have to call Microsoft first.

If you do get this type of call keep your Credit Card in your pocket and save your money for when you really need technical support.

The Google Android team has released the x86 version of Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” to the open source community. The software is incomplete — for example, it’s missing support for Ethernet and cameras — but it will open the door for hardware makers to pre-install Android instead of Microsoft Windows on laptops and desktops in 2012.

No hardware makers have yet announced Intel or AMD powered PCs running Android 4.0, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see several companies quickly jump on the bandwagon in early 2012. The top candidates are Dell, Acer, and ASUS. Dell and Acer could be keen because they try to make machines as low-cost as possible and there’s no licensing fee for Android, unlike Windows, so that would shave about £50 off the cost of a PC. ASUS could be a candidate because the company favours innovative, forward-looking PCs and it already has a strong Android product line, including the Eee Pad Transformer, the most laptop-like Android device already in the market.

An Android-powered PC would have a few things going for it. We’ve already talked about the cost factor. Android also has over half a million apps on the platform, although most of those are optimised for a smartphone screen. With the rise of Android tablets in 2011, there is an increasing number of excellent apps that are optimised for tablets with 1280×800 resolution, which will also work great for a laptop.

Google itself is still lukewarm about the idea, so don’t look for much support from Mountain View. The company has consistently said that Chromebooks are its play in the PC space, but the fact that Chromebooks haven’t sold well are probably part of what has motivated the company to release Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” on x86. Google is dipping its toe in the water. We’ll see if OEMs run with the idea and prove that there’s market interest in Android PCs. If they do, look for Google to get a lot more serious about it.

Original article by Jason Hiner of Tech Republic

Network cabling can be a finicky thing. There was a day when people without appropriate knowledge and training were tasked with running cable by virtue of their other responsibilities. For example, telephone techs and electricians used to be tapped because they were cabling people. However, while telephones cables can sometimes tolerate quite a lot of error, data cabling is less forgiving. I’m focusing here on twisted pair cabling, not fiber. Here are 10 mistakes to avoid when you’re installing network cable.

Mistake 1: Not planning for the future

Perhaps your organization has provisioned 100 Mbps network connections to the desktop for now, even though 1 Gbps has become pretty standard. But suppose your organization is going to move to a new location and you need to install new cabling. Are you going to go with yesterday’s best cabling technology or are you going to install something that will meet today’s needs and your needs for the next few years? Remember, the labour is the most expensive part of your project. While top-of-the-line cable won’t be the least expensive option, you should consider reasonably high-end cable for your installation. Maybe you don’t go with the absolute best — after all, many organizations won’t need 10 Gbps to the desktop for quite some time — but don’t go for cheap, either.

Mistake 2: Using different cabling for voice and data

Twisted pair cabling used to be expensive, so companies used to install different cabling for voice and data needs. Since voice was a less picky service and required only a single pair of wires, less expensive cabling was used for voice while data enjoyed the bulk of the budget.

Today, a complete installation can still be pricey but the bulk of the cost is generally labour; cabling itself really isn’t a massive cost. Further, with the rise of services such as VoIP, voice in many places has transitioned to being a data need and requires data-level cabling. In fact, with the right VoIP equipment, you can often get away with using an existing data cable and then making use of the VoIP device’s built-in Ethernet switch to save on the cost of running multiple cables, if that becomes absolutely necessary.

The point here: Don’t simply assume that you can or should use old style category 3 cabling for voice. If you’re going to run a separate cable for a phone, match the data cable type.

Mistake 3: Not using cable management

Adding cable management is often seen as a “would be nice if” type of scenario. Adding ladder rack, rack-based cable management, and the like does add cost. But it also makes ongoing maintenance much, much easier. Bear in mind that the cabling work won’t stop with the initial installation. More cables will be added, and things will be changed. Make sure that you label appropriate cables, color-code cables, or implement some other kind of process to make it easier to identify cables later on.

Mistake 4: Running cable in parallel with electrical cables

Data cabling used “UTP” — unshielded twisted pairs — to achieve its goals. The magnetic field generated by the low voltage running through the cable is a critical component of the communications chain. When you run this unshielded cabling in parallel with electrical cables, that magnetic field is disrupted and the communication becomes noisy and garbled. In many cases, transmissions will simply not make it from Point A to Point B. In other cases, transmission rates will slow to a crawl as communications are constantly retried.

If you have to go near electrical power lines, cross them in parallel perpendicular instead.

And now for a story: Way back in the late 90s, I was asked to look into why a newly installed coaxial cable wasn’t working. It was a building-to-building connection between two buildings that were very close to one another. Upon arriving at the site, I looked up and saw that the coaxial cable was twisted around the overhead electrical cabling that ran between the two buildings. Needless to say, it was easy to identify the cause of the problem.

Mistake 5: Running cable near “noisy” devices and fixtures

Noise can be introduced onto data cabling by more than just electrical wires. Fluorescent lighting, motors, and similar items that shed electrical or magnetic interference will wreak havoc on your cabling infrastructure as well. Make sure that in your planning, you leave a data cable pathway that avoids these kinds of hazards.

Mistake 6: Not minding distance limitations… to a point

If you’ve run any cabling at all, you know that the typical distance limitation for UTP cabling with typical Ethernet — up to 1 Gbps anyway — is 100 meters. However, if you’re running cabling for some other purposes, such as 10 Gbps or 40 Gbps, be mindful of the distance limitations associated with the type of cabling you intend to use. For example, if you intend to run 10 Gbps for up to 100 meters over twisted pair cabling, you need to use Category 6A or better cabling.

Mistake 7: Not following laws/codes/ordinances

This is really important for many reasons. First of all, failure to adhere to local codes can create dangerous issues for safety personnel. For example, in most places, use of PVC-jacketed cabling is prohibited in air handling spaces. When PVC burns, it creates a toxic stew that can be harmful to firefighters and other personnel that might have to navigate the area in the event of an emergency.

If you fail to follow local codes related to low voltage cabling, you risk fines and may even have to rip and replace your cabling. So make sure you verify your responsibilities before you get started and make sure that any contractors you have working with you are aware of local ordinances as well.

Mistake 8: Not testing your cabling infrastructure

Once the cabling is installed, you should test every cable using appropriate tools to make sure that it will be suitable for its intended use. This includes verifying length and cable specifications matched to needs. If you need 1 Gbps transmission speeds, verify that the cable’s properties will support that need.

Mistake 9: Not following standards

You know, there are only eight individual wires inside a cabling jacket. So why not just terminate them at random, as long as you use the same scheme at both ends and you’re consistent between cables? Well… that’s a bad idea. There are standards in place for a reason. The cabling standards take into consideration just how the cables are twisted and placed in the jacket. If you deviate from those standards, you risk introducing noise and inefficiency into your cable plant that can have a negative impact on overall network performance. The standards I speak of are known as EAI/TIA-568-A and B and dictate the method by which data cables should be terminated.

Mistake 10: Not running a cable when you need one

Recently, Erik Eckel of Tech Republic wrote about the dangers of using an Ethernet switch when a new cable run is really what’s needed. When you start adding Ethernet switches willy-nilly, you risk introducing unknown elements and instability into an otherwise well-designed network. In general, people use mini-switches when they just need to add a port or two, so there is very little traffic planning undertaken. Depending on the reason behind the need for the additional ports, this can be problematic. If the new services require a lot of network resources, you can create bottlenecks where you didn’t intend to. The lesson: Unless you have a really good reason not to, just run another cable (actually, run two; the cabling is cheap but the labour is similar).

Microsoft’s Windows XP lost an unprecedented amount of online usage share last month, a Web metrics company stated.

The aging operating system — it turned 10 several weeks ago — lost almost 2 percentage points during September to end the month with a 50.5% share of all desktop operating systems, according to analytics firm Net Applications. The drop was the largest one-month decline in the company’s tracking of Windows XP.

September’s decline represented a 3.9% drop in XP’s share, also a record in Net Applications’ data.

That’s good news for Microsoft, which has been aggressively urging users still running XP to upgrade to Windows 7. “It’s now time for it to go,” said Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s chief operating officer, referring to XP during a call with financial analysts last month.

At the same time XP’s share slipped, Windows 7 gained 1.8 percentage points to end September with 32.4%, a record for the 2009 operating system.

Windows 7 has gained 14.8 points in the last 12 months, nearly doubling its share.

During the same period, Windows Vista — the problem- and perception-plagued upgrade that was meant to move users off of XP — declined by 4.7 points. It now accounts for just 9.1% of all operating systems that power personal computers that connect to the Internet.

The combination of Windows XP’s decay and Windows 7′s surge puts the two operating systems on a collision path, with projections showing that the latter will pass the former in the first half of next year, perhaps as early as May.

If XP and Windows 7 behave according to their three-month average, Windows 7 will replace XP as Microsoft’s No. 1 operating system in May 2012; using a 12-month average pushes the swap to June.

Depending on when Microsoft launches Windows 8, the hard-charging Windows 7 may come close to the 50% mark, according to Net Applications’ numbers: Windows 7 should have a 48% share in October 2012, for example.

In the past, new editions of Windows have stolen share from their immediate predecessors, putting a quick end to the any gains by the latter.

Microsoft has not revealed a release schedule for Windows 8, but most analysts assume that the company will replicate the timetable of Windows 7, which went on sale in October 2009.

Net Applications’ operating system data also noted that Mac OS X boosted its share by four-tenths of a percentage point to 6.5%, both records.

Net Applications calculates operating system usage share with data obtained from more than 160 million unique visitors who browse 40,000 Web sites that the company monitors for clients. More OS statistics can be found on the company’s site.

The laptop has been around for quite some time, but it will more than likely be replaced as the go-to tool for computing on the move. What will be the successor? The tablet — obviously. Many doubters think the tablet is nothing more than a gimmick to help boost sales. I was one of those doubters for quite some time. But after using tablets enough, I have come around to seeing just how incredibly helpful that technology is. Here are some reasons why I believe tablets will replace the laptop as the mobile device of choice.

1: Power consumption

There is no question here: The tablet blows away the laptop with regard to power consumption. On average, I can get a full day out of a tablet on a single charge. A laptop? Not even close. And for anyone on the go, losing power is just another obstacle that interferes with work. With a tablet, you don’t have that issue. It would be a rare occasion that you would burn through your power before getting access to a means of recharging.

2: Viruses

Android? iPad? Viruses anyone? I think not. Not that it will never happen, but it’s a pretty safe bet that tablets will never suffer from the same deluge of viruses that plagues a Windows laptop. Because of this, a tablet can safely work on without concern for viruses and malware. Oh sure, you’ll find antivirus software in the Android Market, but they are pretty much pointless. Who in the world wouldn’t want to work with a portable device that isn’t vulnerable to the masses of viruses and malware out in the wild?

3: Portability

You can lug around a 4- to 12-pound laptop or a sub .5-pound tablet. Which do you want when you’re going through airports, taxis, hotels, conferences, meetings, etc.? You’re going to choose the tablet every time. But not just because of weight. The ability to work with a tablet in confined spaces totally overshadows the laptop. Need to work in a cab? Tablet. Need to work in the bathroom? Tablet. You simply can’t beat the tablet for portability.

4: Cost effectiveness

Out of the starting gate, a really good tablet will cost about the same as a low- to mid-range laptop. So you’re getting more for your money at the outset. But now figure in the price of an extra battery and software for the laptop and you can see how quickly the cost will add up. Tablets are fast becoming one of the most cost-effective office tools you will find.

5: Online connection

Pay the extra fee and get your tablet with a 4G connection, and you won’t have to worry about finding a Wi-Fi connection to access whatever cloud or service you need. Most models can be purchased with a constant network connection (to the tune of 3G or 4G), which makes the tablet a step ahead of most laptops. Yes, you can purchase aircards for laptops, but that’s just another piece of hardware to worry about.

6: Available applications

There are thousands upon thousands of applications now available for tablets. So many in number and variety are these applications, it almost makes going back to a laptop a real pain. And yes, a good portion of those apps are worthless, but not all of them. And a good portion of the solid, useful apps are free! Best of all, those apps can be installed from anywhere without installation media. You have a network connection, you can install software.

7: User friendliness

Tablet interfaces are probably some of the single most user-friendly desktops you will come across. They are simple, elegant, and don’t get in the way of work. I fully believe (as do Ubuntu and GNOME) that this is the future of the PC desktop. The applications (for the most part) were also designed with amazing user friendliness in mind. Simple to use, very little clutter to the interface (no Ribbons to get in the way), and singular in purpose (in many cases). So you might have more apps installed than you would on a laptop, but because of the ease of installation/removal, that’s not a problem.

8: Bluetooth connectivity

I have become a fond user of the Bluetooth. Headphones, headsets, keyboards, you name it. And tablets make the connection between these devices a breeze. Connecting those same devices to a laptop? Not so easy. Even with a built-in card, the connection process is not nearly as easy as it is when done from a tablet.

9: Efficiency

Getting a laptop and a tablet out of hibernation is like comparing apples and oranges. Tablets are as close to an instant-on tool as we have in the industry. And when on the go, nothing beats instant on. Need to write a note or send off a fast email? You’ll be completing that task much more quickly when doing it from a tablet.

10: Social integration

Some might argue that social networking isn’t ideal for business use. I would argue that it is. Even when you’re on the go, you need to remain in contact with co-workers, family, and friends. Why not do that with the ease of nearly seamless integration? Forget having to use a browser for everything. Instead, grab an Android tablet that can quickly have you Facebooking, Tweeting, and Tumbling. And if you think that’s nothing more than a waste of time, remember that small businesses depend upon social networking tools for free marketing.

The tablet era

Tablets are not only here to stay, it will only be a matter of time before they have fully and finally usurped the laptop as the go-to hardware for the mobile business user. After you get past the acclimation period for the keyboard, the tablet is an amazing tool for portable business (or even casual) usage.

Original article by Jack Wallen of Tech Republic

IT administrators are often so busy just trying to keep up with the obvious security threats that many more problems fly under the radar. Here are 10 security risks you may have in your organization that you are not aware of.

1: Your employees

Your own employees are your biggest source of security risks. Sometimes, it is deliberate; sometimes, it is not. Employees have the most access and the most time. We expend a lot of effort worrying about external threats, but in all honesty, all it takes is an employee bringing in a virus from a home PC on a USB drive to nullify all your forward-facing firewalls and measures. Disgruntled employees sometimes express their anger by hurting your computer systems. And of course, it is possible for a well-meaning employee to make a major mistake. Good governance, education, setting (and enforcing) policies, and knowing your employees are your best steps to closing the holes here.

2: Common coding mistakes

Certain mistakes in programming still get made despite years of warnings and education. Most common are SQL injection and cross-site scripting vulnerabilities. I still see these issues from time to time even in major software packages that you would think are trustworthy (WordPress is a good example). It’s hard to change software once you’ve installed it, so you need to keep these packages up to date even though it is quite a hassle.

3: Unauthorized machines

I’ve seen this one too many times. Someone decides to bring in an old PC and put it on the network to do something your existing infrastructure doesn’t allow them to do. They think that they are being helpful, working around the limitations of the IT department. After all, if IT won’t build a Web site for their group, it’s just “doing them a favor” to set up an old PC in the corner with a Web server on it, right? Wrong. The best way I’ve found to keep these rogue machines in line is with rigorous IP address audits and policies and scanning the network to create a list of machines. If machines can’t get IP addresses, they can’t do much harm.

4: Ancient “rock solid” servers

We all have them — that server buried deep in the data room that “just won’t quit.” Usually, it’s running some software package that is impossible to migrate to another machine. Sadly, these machines are often major security risks because they typically are no longer getting patches or we fail to patch them out of fear of breaking them. In addition, those older versions of operating systems often come with inherent security holes that no patching can fix. You need to replace these servers one way or the other. The best first step is to virtualize them. From there, it is a lot easier to try to update them.

5: Legacy applications

It’s not just the old servers that are big security risks; it is also the applications running on them, as well as other legacy applications you may have running. These applications would be a lot less problematic if they were current with their patches, but usually they aren’t. All too often, we miss a major version update because the upgrade is so difficult, and then we’re so far behind the ball that it’s impossible to catch up. Or perhaps the applications are completely discontinued. It’s painful to say it, but the best thing you can do is find a migration path to a recent version or another package entirely.

6: Local admins

We all know the dangers of allowing users to run with escalated privileges. Still, we occasionally end up with users being granted local admin rights inappropriately. In my experience, this often happens while troubleshooting a problem: We make the user a local admin to see if it fixes a problem and we forget to undo it. Regardless of how it occurs, it is a ticking time bomb for security. Use your central administration tools to make sure that the local admin list gets reset on a regular basis to the proper users and groups.

7: Incorrect share/file permissions

File permissions are tricky things, and most users are not even aware of how to set them. So what happens? Users create sensitive files in their usual networked location and those files get the default permissions, which are “collaboration friendly” to say the least. The next thing you know, everyone can read the documents, which are supposed to be confidential. Your best weapon is to pre- establish a share and file structure with the correct permissions. For example, give everyone a home directory for personal documents and create shares or directories around roles, projects, and teams with the appropriate permissions. The hard part is then educating them to use the correct locations — but that is much easier than trying to teach them permissions.

8: Hidden servers within applications

I have seen more and more applications lately that use a local Web server as an administration console. Sometimes, these applications are installed by users without permission. But occasionally, the IT department just does not realize what comes with an application. While these servers can be locked down so that they are not a risk (and with luck, they get installed like that), you need to verify that the applications are secured properly before allowing them to be installed on users’ machines.

9: VPN clients

Some users figure out how to set up VPN access on their personal machines. For a power user, it isn’t too hard to do. But you have no control over that machine, and once it is on the VPN, problems with the unauthorized machine can easily spill over onto the VPN. One thing you can do is audit the VPN systems to see who is connecting from what PCs and compare it to your list of authorized systems. Also, you can put additional firewalls around VPN clients to quarantine them. Finally, there are various systems to ensure that the clients connecting are on a preapproved list.

10: Disabled security software

Security software often puts up roadblocks to getting work done, so the “logical response” from many users is to find a way to work around it. For example, I’ve seen people set up anonymizers at home to sidestep IT policies. Power users (especially developers and system administrators) often know how to circumvent security tools. They may also be local administrators because of a technical need, which makes disabling software and changing settings even easier.

Combatting this is tough because these users often assume that they are “too smart” to be a security risk. What they fail to realize is that the modern crop of security threats do not require the user to make a mistake, like going to an obviously suspect Web site or downloading pirated software. Every Acrobat file, for example, is a potential plague rat at this point. Start looking for unusual trends, like large amounts of consistent traffic to an IP address and use centralized tools to ensure that settings are at the right levels and are reset periodically. Also, take any unnecessary local administration rights and firewall entire groups onto their own network segment to limit damage if those groups have a legitimate need for lower security.

Original article by Justin James for Tech Republic

Strong passwords are important protections to help you have safer online transactions.

Keys to password strength: length and complexity

An ideal password is long and has letters, punctuation, symbols, and numbers.

• Whenever possible, use eight characters or more.
• Don’t use the same password for everything. Cybercriminals steal passwords on websites with very little security, and then they try to use that same password and user name in more secure environments, such as banking websites.
• Change your passwords often. Set an automatic reminder for yourself to change your passwords on your email, banking, and credit card websites about every three months.
• The greater the variety of characters in your password, the better. However, password hacking software automatically checks for common letter-to-symbol conversions, such as changing “and” to “&” or “to” to “2.”
• Use the entire keyboard, not just the letters and characters you use or see most often.

Create a strong password you can remember

There are many ways to create a long, complex password.

Here are some suggestions that might help you remember it easily:

What to do – Example

Start with a sentence or two – Complex passwords are safer
Remove the spaces between the words in the sentence – Complexpasswordsaresafer
Turn words into shorthand or intentionally misspell a word – ComplekspasswordsRsafer
Add length with numbers. Put numbers that are meaningful to you after the sentence – ComplekspasswordsRsafer2011

Test your password with a password checker

A password checker evaluates your password’s strength automatically. Try Microsoft’s secure password checker.

Protect your passwords from prying eyes

The easiest way to “remember” passwords is to write them down. It is okay to write passwords down, but keep the written passwords in a secure place.

Common password pitfalls to avoid

Cyber criminals use sophisticated tools that can rapidly decipher passwords.

Avoid creating passwords that use:

• Dictionary words in any language.
• Words spelled backwards, common misspellings, and abbreviations.
• Sequences or repeated characters. Examples: 12345678, 222222, abcdefg, or adjacent letters on your keyboard (qwerty).
• Personal information. Your name, birthday, driver’s license, passport number, or similar information.

This article can be found in Microsoft’s Safety & Security Centre by clicking on the link below:

Change Passwords | Create Strong Passwords

Apple yesterday announced that iCloud — a breakthrough set of free cloud services that includes iTunes in the Cloud, Photo Stream, and Documents in the Cloud — will be available on October 12.

iCloud stores your music, photos, apps, contacts, calendars, documents, and more, keeping them up to date across all your devices, including iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC. When content changes on one device, all your other devices are updated automatically and wirelessly.

iCloud is the cloud the way it should be: automatic and effortless. iCloud is seamlessly integrated into your apps, so you can access your content on all your devices. And it’s free with iOS 5.

iOS 5 is the most extensive update ever for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. In addition to over 200 new features, the free update will give your IOS devices access to iCloud.

What is iCloud?

iCloud stores your music, photos, documents, and more and wirelessly pushes them to all your devices. Automatic, effortless, and seamless — it just works.

iTunes in the cloud

With iCloud, the music you purchase in iTunes appears automatically on all your devices. You can also download your past iTunes purchases. Where you want, when you want.

Photo Stream

With iCloud, when you take a photo on one device, it automatically appears on all your other devices. No syncing. No sending. Your photos are just there. Everywhere you want them.

Documents in the cloud

If you have the same iCloud-enabled apps on more than one device, iCloud automatically keep your documents up to date across all your devices. So you don’t have to.

Apps, Books and Backup

iCloud makes sure all your devices have the same apps. And books. iCloud also backs up your information. So if something happens, it can help save the day.

Calendar, Mail and Contacts

iCloud stores your calendar, mail, and contacts and automatically pushes them to all your devices. So you can switch from one device to another and still go about business as usual.

icloud.com – Your place on the web

iCloud works great with popular applications including Mail and iCal on a Mac and Microsoft Outlook on a PC. But if you happen to be away from home without your computer or one of your iOS devices, you can access your mail, contacts, calendar, and documents — ad-free — from any computer at icloud.com.

More information, pictures and videos can be found on the Apple website by clicking on the link below:

Apple – iCloud – The new way to store and access your content.