Posts Tagged ‘Computer’
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
The Ipad was launched in January and Apple has been extremely excited about their latest inovation. However, it seems that the company is facing a new marketing challenge in the manner they are broadcasting their latest category of technology. If Apple fails to introduce their new product, they could be facing marketing challenges with their consumers in the future.
Apple has been lucid about certain information provided to the consumers. They know when the Ipad is expected to hit stores which is April 3rd, also what kinds of iPads will be available for purchase, which are the WiFi models. In addition, they know that consumers will be able to pre-order their iPad via online delivery or Apple Store pick up.
What is uncertain and unknown is how they can broadcast their message in a fun and grasping manner for their target market. Apple is aiming to establish a method to ensure that the significance of the iPad will successfully reflect the originality. Different from the Macbook, iPod and iPhone, this time Apple is launching a new device category to their existing consumers as well as a new market. It is a fact that certain consumers have already established their mindset on what they are expecting from the iPad. but with customers who are still undecided, if Apple does not execute the introduction of their product properly by establishing this new category in the consumers’ minds, the iPad may have a weak position relative to other products established in this category.
The IPad will enter the market to compete with the new wave of the mini computer, and will hope to introduce a new touch to a relatively new market. The trick is to find a way to differentiate the IPad to the customer. Apple is known for its unique touch with its devices, and to achieve the same success as it has with the past, it seems that the marketing efforts should focus on what’s unique and “Apple” about the IPad.
One way that Apple can deal with this situation is to position the iPad as an electronic media delivery device. Making a point out of the fact that people can connect with books, newspapers, magazines and online media as easily and effortlessly with the iPad.
Tags: Computer, google, HR, ipad, iphone, ipod, IT, latest inovation, Mac, marketing, marketing challenges, marketing efforts, mini computer, Phone, target market, Technology
Posted in Gadgets | No Comments »
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
Hewlett Packard is one of the world’s most flourishing manufacturers of desktop computers, printers, servers, and laptops. With a strong and reputable consumer brand, the company has managed to grow its services and expand to provide services to a large number of businesses. During the first quarter of the company’s development, HP managed to establish a sales growth of 8%. On the other hand, HP has surprised analysts with their declining market performance with their hand-held products including the iPaq Smart Phone. Their sales have dropped $25 million in the first quarter while Apple had a $5.6 billion market growth with their iPhone.
HP has realized that because of the iPhone, Apple has managed to build more intensive relationships with customers. They have accomplished more than three billion software applications through the store which is directed to the iPhone. Now, Apple is looking to repeat this with their latest invention which is the iPad, a tablet computer which was recently launched. Researchers at HP are using this as a motivation key for building the reputation of their hand-held products and have talked about developing software’s and services that will let people print easily from their phones as well as manage and communicate their photos and communications more efficiently with each other through mobile versions of social networks.
It is expected that HP is to offer a smart phone in the coming year that will utilize the latest mobile version of Windows. Already, there is a lot of competition in the cell phone industry and it is a good idea that HP has announced to dedicate more of their focus on other products on the side of the Smartphone category.
Tags: Business, Cell Phone, cell phone industry, Company, Computer, declining market, desktop computers, developing software, google, hand held products, hewlett packard, iphone, IT, laptop, laptops, latest invention, market performance, microsoft, mobile, mobile phone, mobile version, mobile versions, motivation key, network, server, smart phone, smart phones, Social network, social networks, Software, software applications, tablet computer, Windows
Posted in Business, Information Technology | No Comments »
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
Today, companies involve huge IT departments that are dedicated to storing and sharing extensive data. This means huge amounts of data and data servers being handled by companies who are at best minimally familiar with the ins and outs of computing. Presently there are more than 15 million computer servers operating globally. Every organization has to build its network for its peak demand leaving 80% of the running servers idle every day, which as you may imagine leads to huge waste of time and money for these companies.
There is an expansion of networks, computer storage and servers, and the growth has left companies wanting a new solution to their computing needs. “Data Utilities” will allow companies to discard their data storage infrastructure and hand off all their data storage and maintenance needs to third parties able to efficiently and responsibly manage them. These data utilities will allow sharing of servers to meet the peak needs of companies without requiring the company to pay for and maintain the server during its times of lower demand.
The concept of data utilities isn’t all that new, and we all use them everyday. For example, every time you share photos through services such as Facebook, snapfish, Shutterfly, Kodak, or Flicker, you are operating in the cloud and using a data utility. Similarly, the online software suite from Google Apps allows users to generate and access information and spreadsheets exclusively online. Users can create, edit, and share all sorts of files from any computer with Internet access.
Basically any kind of storage can be met by a data utility. It is estimated that the internet contains 5 million terabytes of data. That is just an initiating point since constant improvement will only increase storage demands. Data utilities will allow the collaboration of computing power, data storage, software applications, and other IT needs through a global network. It will permit businesses to concentrate on what to offer rather than technical know-how of how to offer the service.
At the time of great economic concern where cost efficiency is gold, the data utility trend has only hastened. IT decisions are being made based on economic reasoning as well as a technical viewpoint. Data utilities enable companies to utilize resources on demand and pay for them when needed.
Tags: Business, Company, Computer, computer servers, computer software, computer storage, computing power, data, data servers, data storage, Facebook, global network, google, HR, infrastructure, internet, IT, network, new solution, peak demand, server, snapfish, Software, software applications, software suite, storage demands, storage infrastructure, storage software, time and money
Posted in Business | No Comments »
Monday, January 18th, 2010
About three weeks ago I sat down in front of my laptop to do my homework and a screen that looks like the one below popped up telling me I had serious threats/viruses on my computer. Looks legitimate right?
WRONG!!!! This anti-virus “software” was the virus. However, I didn’t think anything of it until I was suddenly locked out of the sites I frequent, such as my school, my Gmail, my bank, etc. I may not be Miss Techie, but I do know enough to recognize that this wasn’t normal. So, in casual conversation with Zach, who is a Mr. Techie, regarding the strange behavior of my computer, before I was even half way done he said, “You have a virus”. Those dreaded words rang in my ears as I began to see the dollars falling from my wallet. Luckily, I work for the best IT company on earth and Zach was able to remove the virus within one day and install legitimate firewalls and virus protections.
Ironically, that same evening I was watching the nightly news where they were featuring a story on “New Organized Crime Rings”…HACKERS. Apparently, technology is not only transforming the way we do business, it has transformed theft as well. The newest trend amongst thieves is to send out these nasty little parasites, disguised as helpful software, that infect your computer allowing the hacker to track your key strokes, thus gaining access to all of your personal passwords and information. A local OC business man was recently taken for $1,000,000 due to this type of scam. OUCH!
Two days ago, I was out sick and received an email from Zach saying three clients in the past week had been hit with the same thing and decided that YOU need to be aware of what is out there!!!! He sent me this really informative article: Take a look, it could save you a lot of time, money & heart ache!
Beware fake anti-virus programs
Tags: anti virus software, ANTI-VIRUS, Business, Computer, Crime, crime rings, hacker, Help, helpful software, infect, informative article, Install, IT, Software, techie, Technology, thieves, virus, virus programs, virus protections
Posted in Business, Computer Support, Tips | No Comments »
Thursday, January 7th, 2010
Let’s face it, 2009 was a difficult year for many businesses. While some did experience profit and growth, for most it has been a year of consolidation and survival. As we move into a New Year and new decade it lends hope that we are leaving the devastation of the recession behind, and according to Jan Hatzius, Chief U.S. Economist at Goldman Sachs, we just may be! He made the recent statement “The recession is most likely over as it appears the economy has stopped shrinking, posting modest growth over the last quarter.”
At the start of every period of growth, experts always identify a series of trends that businesses will move toward. After extensive research I have determined the top two trends that will immediately impact your businesses growth are green practices and digital technology.
Going Green:
Thanks to government incentives and changing public sentiment, clean energy’s popularity has risen to new heights.In 2009 the positive impacts of energy efficiency became a hot topic and awareness about the importance of Going Green spread globally. President Obama’s vision of energy efficiency creating jobs and healing our economy created a stimulus plan that poured billions into renewable energy. Energy efficiency was a central component of every one of the climate bills debated in Congress in 2009.
Not only is the Government allocating huge amounts to the movement, but according to Cleantech Group, an industry research firm, venture capital investment in clean technology–including solar, biofuels, batteries and the smart grid–overtook IT and biotech for the biggest piece of the VC pie. The sector swiped 27 percent of all investment dollars in the third quarter–that’s $1.6 billion!
Green issues will continue to dominate political and business agendas now and in the future; your business can largely benefit from this. I am not suggesting you change your existing infrastructure, or start selling Green products, but by being an environmentally-conscientious business, you will set yourself apart from your competition – people feel better when they can take the “green” option without sacrificing quality and service.
This is not a hard task to undertake. Look for green alternatives in every area of your business: For example, implementing Virtualization into your IT infrastructure will save space and energy. Avoid sending paper invoices through the mail and opt for paperless email, pay all of your bills online to avoid the use of paper, any paper you do use recycle. Businesses that make a genuine commitment to going green often find that the cost savings and personal reward of contributing to the health of our planet are as great as the positive PR their business will receive.
Check out these green trends and boost your bottom line.
*As a side note there are a lot of little things we can do as individuals to lighten our carbon footprint, MSNBC has a great article that provides easy tips to make a difference.
Digital Technology:
I write about the significance of technology in today’s world a lot and the amount of research I do on this subject always has a consistent tone: It is MOST CRUCIAL component of your business! It is important you identify the technology you need to strengthen and grow your business.
The internet is and will continue to provide the biggest opportunities for businesses. No other location or Marketing strategy has ever made it possible for a business to reach so many targeted customers.
If you are or were looking into entering into the Industry, apps are the way to go. More and more people are relying on their mobile devices and the as the web continues to move to wireless, this industry is there for the taking. Innovative ideas that bring technologies together will dominate in 2010. To help with this, Microsoft, Apple and Google have all launched third-party mobile app markets – so there really is money to be made here. You don’t need to be a computer developer to create an app. If you have an innovative idea there are plenty of freelance programmers out there who you can contract to do the work for you. Apps are only one thing to capitalize on out of the many upcoming digital trends.
Tags: Business, clean technology, Computer, digital technology, economy, energy efficiency, Green, investment dollars, it infrastructure, marketing, new decade, Recession, Recycle, Technology, Tips
Posted in Business | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
After living through the tragedy of my friend Kristen’s computer crashing last week, the internal conversations at StoneHill ignited a list of questions. My brain is dominated by the right side and does not operate even a little bit in a logical let alone technical sense. I have worked with computers my whole life, but in the last two months I have learned more than I ever imagined being around my brilliant co-workers.
Unfortunately, I not only had to report back to Kristen that due to her lack of knowledge about cleaning her computer had led to the death of her hard drive, but also had to tell her that because she failed to back-up her data there is a very good chance that all of her research, work, and personal items may be lost forever. It seems backing up data is not only one of the most important components of maintaining your computer’s health, but also the most neglected. In the midst of this conversation that not only intrigued, but inspired me to write this, another one of my co-workers Zach Hart made the statement “If there is not a backup system in place it can costs 10’s of thousands of dollars with no guarantee that all the data will be recovered.”
It’s amazing to me how much we think we know, but don’t. Therefore I wanted to share with you some tips and resources to prevent any suffering to you personally or professionally from data loss. This information caused me to inquire about how to effectively back-up data from the individual station to your businesses network.
- Purchase a Zip Drive and back-up daily. Although this is the cheapest method it can be very time consuming and has limited memory.
- Purchase and external hard drive that you can back up to regularly. Christos recommends: Western Digital.
- Back-up online. This has become a very popular option where you rent virtual space to upload your data on.
StoneHill offers an affordable service to our clients called BDR; this system is recommended for small to medium sized businesses. BDR is very affordable and has many great functions including, but not limited to the following:
- Very frequent backups
- Optional off-site data storage
- Multiple restore points
- Standby server capabilities
- Advanced restoration options
With StoneHill’s BDR backups are performed as frequently as every 15 minutes, providing clients with numerous restoration points compared to traditional tape backups.
Tags: affordable service, back-up, backing up data, backup, backup system, Backups, Computer, data, data loss, maintaining your computer, StoneHill's Website, Tips
Posted in Business, Tips | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
As a business owner your computer is your lifeline. In today’s society almost everything can and is done on the computer; shopping, marketing, school, we even date through our computers. Due to the fact I am a part of the Net Generation I have truly never known anything different, but I have experienced the devastation of having my computer crash. Unfortunately, my dear friend and neighbor just suffered a similar fate. She came over a few weeks ago in tears holding her computer tower. I calmly removed it from the clench of her hands and sat her down at my kitchen table. She looked at me with desperate eyes and said; “my computer is broken; please help.” This may seem a little dramatic, but Kristen is currently enrolled in a Doctorate program for Forensic Psychology; a large part of her grade and successful graduation from this program relies on her Dissertation. Kristen’s Dissertation is on Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome; a subject she has researched for the past year. Guess where all this research is? Yep, on the machine next to my sobbing friend across from me. Kristen, knows I work for StoneHill Technical Solutions so she was looking to me for answers. However, I am not a tech and to be honest I don’t understand anything about the computer other then how to operate it, but luckily I have access to some of the greatest technical minds in the country.
I brought Kristen’s computer in for one of my associates; Christos Kirst to inspect. Upon opening it he made the comment “doesn’t anyone know to clean their computer” and as a non-tech my response was “why?” He then went on to explain the importance of keeping your computer clean. Dust blocks the circulation of air, which is of crucial importance for keeping your machine cool and heat is the biggest component to computer failure. If dust or animal hair clogs your vents and the vital components inside your computer it will heat up putting your computer’s health in jeopardy. Routine cleaning could save you lots of money, maintenance fees, and heartache.
Christos provided me with a few helpful tips to clean a computer. However, I advise you seek professional should the task seem too complicated.
The easiest and most affordable method is to buy a can of air; these can be purchased at your local Costco or office supply store.
Turn off and unplug your computer.
For the first of your cleaning series you should open your computer (any performed after, your computer can remain closed.) If your case has screws, use a screwdriver to remove them and open the side of the case opposite the motherboard. For screw-less cases slide the side panel off. Give the inside of your computer a good blast of air to dislodge and remove any dust particles clogging your system.
For laptops; simply place the nozzle of the air can inside the vents located on the sides and bottom of your laptop.
For computers; you should clean them every 60 to 90 days (to ensure you don’t forget schedule it in your planner & outlook calendar.) For your laptop it is safe to repeat this process twice a year.
Tags: cleaning, Computer, computer health, dirt, dust, extend computer life, heat, laptop
Posted in Tips | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
1. Be very very afraid! – Don’t trust a link because you know the sender, read it. Does it make sense? If not, try and get to the linked article by manually browsing to the domain. If it was a phishing scam you’ll never find what the email promised.
2. Be very very prepared! – Install software or subscribe to a managed service that can handle virus and malware.
3. Be very very up to date! – Verify that you are patching Windows, and updating your virus and malware definitions.
4. Be very very thorough! – Scan, scan, scan, and then scan again. Make sure that you are aware of what’s been found on your computer then clean it off.
5. Be very very aware! – Don’t go to a site you’re unsure of. Don’t blindly enter your information online without being certain of their privacy policy. You should always be aware of how to remove your information before supplying it.
Tags: antivirus, Computer, email links, malware, managed service, patching, safeguard computer, scan, Tips, virus, Windows
Posted in Tips | No Comments »
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
CRN magazine released an article today detailing a new Microsoft study, conducted by Harris Interactive, in which they found that many small and enterprise business’ are cutting back drastically on their information technology and innovation budgets. This trend is especially prevalent in the U.S. “The line between improving business efficiency and cost cutting is a thin one, and American companies have a well established pattern of focusing on short term profit at the expense of long term health.”
“Companies that invest now are going to win down the road,” said Sobel. “Profit is important, of course, but I’d rather sacrifice one point of profit by investing in IT and make up ten times that number over the next decade.”
As a computer service company I have seen this trend first hand. Many of the businesses that need to be spending money now to be ready for the future land grab are instead pulling back their information technology budget. Money is cheap right now and many leasing companies are looking for willing businesses. Look around and ask your IT manager if it is time to upgrade or how your infrastructure will perform when your business starts booming again.
Don’t get left behind on the economic upswing because of you neglected your phones, computers, servers or technology today.
Tags: Computer, falling behind competitors, harris interactive, Information Technology, microsoft, Phone, server, small business, Technology
Posted in Tips | No Comments »
