Encourage Employees To Work From Home – Use IT To Run Your Business Better

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The combination of a high speed internet connection, a powerful laptop and conference facility is enough to help your business development manager interact with friends from all over the world without stepping out of his or her office room. Needless to say, this has huge implications for the way business is done in your firm or company.

If this is all it takes to develop your business, you can even encourage your manager to work from home. After all, a person who is in charge of contacting numerous clients and spreading word of your business need not be present in the office premises at all times, right? You may be thinking of moving to a slightly less expensive commercial area to cut down on office management costs.

You may be forced to provide pay hikes to certain employees who will have to travel farther to work. You can be selective and encourage certain employees to work from home and report at work just once or twice a week to ensure all team members are in sync.

Of course, this is going to increase the dependence of your business on technology. You may be required to spruce up the IT infrastructure in your firm. However, this is going to provide better returns over the long term. Encourage your employees to choose their own timings and emphasize on productivity instead of traditional timekeeping. Once this is done, you will automatically gain reputation of being a progressive employer in the market. Just make sure there is no drastic dip in the firm’s productivity. Use of technology cannot become an excuse for not working hard.

Filed Under: Business, Internet Tagged With: , ,

RHEL keeps patches hidden?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.0 is the latest RHEL that came last year with a set of patches. Now the patches were all concealed, and came with the kernel. This means that the flaws were disguised. Only to be found out.

Although there has been much talk over it, Red Hat said it was a move to keep pace with the competition. There are three other players like CentOS, Novell, and Oracle with their Linux operating system tapping the heels of RHEL to keep it on its feet.

Red Hat felt that in the open source marketplace there were not many takers of products for which they might have to pay support charges. The three competitors of Red Hat have been taking away its customers. Red Hat has been all the while doing a lot to thwart such attempts.

Oracle’s Oracle Linux 6 and CentOS’es CentOS products are RHEL lookalikes. CentOS is almost the same as RHEL. So one could say that more than being different products they are all mere copies of RHEL. Given Oracle’s strong marketing tactics and financial girth, RHEL might have to rely on its recommendations from its existing customers. CentOS on the other hand has a wide pool of open source Linux coders. This is another competition that RHEL has to fend off.

All these reasons made RHEL hide the patch using a pre-bundled approach. By doing this the open source community won’t understand much about what has been changed. And the competitors would have the plan to start copying what RHEL did. Red Hat is fully authorized to do this, and it complies with the public license act of GNU.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: , ,

iPhone Photo apps that will make you go wow!

here are so many applications for the taking to edit pictures on your iPhone. This article will not attempt to talk about all those applications. Rather a few of them. And  the best of them according to us.

There are always some inherent features to the iPhone. It is just about downloading some applications that make use of these. Photo editing apps won’t cost a lot. Given the fact that the iPhone does have a good camera and video recording, one can always import the pics or videos into the computer and use desktop applications to edit them.

Yet, there’s a lot of fun editing on the move. That’s why the iPhone was built, and that’s specifically the reason why such apps will complement its purpose. Some of these apps can even create sketches out of captured photos.

Edit a Sketch
This is a very simple and easy application to use. You can use this application to take a photo from within it. Or you can just get the photos externally loaded into the app to get it started. The next thing that the app will do is make the color go away and make the photo look hand-drawn. It’s almost like a pencil-sketch. By default the sketch looks very good to use, but it is still editable. It is recommended that the sketch remain as it were in the first place to retain its originality.

Special FX
Macphun’s FX Photo Studio is another great photo editing app for iPhone. It provides multiple filters to give the photos a variety of looks. Coming at a cost of just over a dollar, it’s sure worth a buy.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: , ,

Galaxy pro: The new entrant to the race

The race in the smartphone category has hotted up again with the entry of the Galaxy Pro smartphone from Samsung. This phone does have a resemblance to Blackberry’s phones, yet it retains the same look and feel that Samsung phone have.

Galaxy Pro runs on Android – a definite plus, give the popularity of the mobile operating system. The Galaxy Pro seems to be a close competitor to Research in Motion’s (RIM) Blackberry’s suite of smartphones.

Galaxy Pro sure has its place in the sun, considering that users are looking beyond Blackberry. In today’s age of fickle consumer interests, variety is in vogue. Consumer loyalty is something that no mobile manufacturer can expect. And cashing in on such a situation is Samsung with the new Galaxy Pro.

Android has definitely taken the mobile platform market by storm. Since 2008 – the year Android was born, Android has experienced increasing market share. Recent statistics suggest that it has overtaken RIM in the mobile platform space. Within a span of 3 to 4 years, Android has emerged the leader. And that’s why Galaxy Pro is so desirable, since it runs on Android.

In the upcoming wave of business mobile phones, Galaxy Pro aims to make its mark by providing innovative and customer-centric products. Even though most features resemble the template used by RIM, Galaxy still has many differentiating features.

One of the features is named Social Hub Premium. This feature helps Galaxy Pro users switch between various social media applications from a single view. Which means a user can attend to a lot of social media messages without the need to login and logout. Or even do it on different mobile browsers.

Another feature called “Think Free” helps users use and edit all Microsoft Suite product documents like Word docs, Excel sheets, and PowerPoint presentations from a single point of use.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: , ,

Employee Rewards, Employer Discounts: Laptops

Diligence — a trait far too uncommon among the business world, passed about infrequently — deserves a reward. Those who offer their time and attention to the tiny details (obsessing over data and its rules) must be compensated. This is the truth all employers must understand… including you.

Patience must be recognized. Employees who have given their focus to work should be supported; and laptops are often the best way to accomplish this. New machines can help to make the days easier. They can provide quick connections, presentational tools and allow all projects to become efficient. This can save hours and help to repay all of the effort that’s been offered.

Many assume that computers are too expensive to give, however. They’re certain that screens can’t be afforded. They can, though — the best laptop deals must simply be utilized first.

Conduct online searches. Compare all machines for their prices, hard-drive capabilities and applications (dismissing goods that lack the storage and speed that’s needed for business). Look for impartial reviews to be certain that all items are worth your consideration. Avoid laptops that suffer from poor customer reports; these will only have to be replaced, and that will cost you more money.

Look to virtual stores then. These offer the best deals by not requiring sales taxes and not having to raise prices to make a profit (like traditional shops do). The costs are lower and the service is quick. Take advantage also of any discounts or special promotions. Many internet stores offer incentives for purchasing through them, rather than their competitors.

Your employees have earned more than your respect: they instead deserve laptops. Offer them today.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: , ,

Facebook to play movies?

Yes. That’s precisely why Facebook has roped in Warner Bros. to let them stream movies through Facebook. This would indeed be the arrival of the next wave of innovation in social media technology. Facebook users will now rent movies or buy them online – through Facebook. This makes it all the more convenient for users to stay on Facebook, and still get what they want.

‘Dark Knight’ has been selected for the initial run. It will be streamed first. User reaction will be highly anticipated by Facebook. This partnership between Facebook and Warner Bros will indeed be serious competition to other rent-a-movie players. One of them is Netflix, which has been riding the tide of being a huge player in this segment.

Facebook’s streaming technology is not like what Netflix uses. Facebook will allow users to pay per movie, instead of asking them to pay per month subscriptions. This is a better way of handling users who don’t want to be bound to any site that offers them movies on demand.

Close on the heels of Facebook’s alliance with Warner Bros. a lot many other movie conglomerates are expected to knock on Facebook’s door. It all depends on how successful this experiment will be.

Every movie that Facebook streams and which is available to be streamed on pay basis will have a fan page. On this fan page, a link will enable people to click it to watch the movie. Facebook will have credit points which are equated to some amount of currency. For example credit points of thirty will equal 3 dollars.

Once the pay has been made by the user, the user can watch the movie for two days, and as many times possible. Facebook’s latest step to increase revenue looks good at the outset. While Facebook still makes money from advertisements, this latest revenue strategy might also be an additional income source, or after sometime a main income source for inventive Facebook.

 

Filed Under: General Tagged With: , ,

Education In The Job Market

Education is vital in any job market. Since the impact of the Great Recession, it is more important than ever. With many people that are highly experienced and qualified, it is necessary to have something that sets you apart from other candidates for a company. This is absolutely true for the following fields:

  1. Teaching
  2. Business
  3. Technology
  4. Science/Medical

There are areas that are now requiring formal education in order to be considered. This would include the job of mechanic for foreign cars and dealerships. This proves to the company that you are highly qualified to work on their machines in order to gain customer satisfaction. Sites like earnmydegree.com can help you find the bestonline school tohelp you meet your goal ofbeingattractive to employers in whatever field you choose.

What Is Appealing

With technology advancing so quickly, it is key to focus on some aspect of that in your education. This will allow you stay on top of the trends and rapid growth of your industry of choice. This will also allow you to sell your skills better with a company which is looking for someone that can keep up with today’s constant new advances. Technology is part of every industry, including teaching and business. So it is imperative that a prospective employee understand and comprehend skills that can only be offered through an education, and ultimately proven through receipt of a degree. This will not only open up more possibilities in the job market, but make a candidate more attractive than others also competing for jobs.

Filed Under: Internet Tagged With: , ,

Internet ‘Kill Switch’ bill

A cyber security law has been passed by the US senate. This will give the government the power to blind certain parts of the Internet in the event of a cyber attack. A strong opposition to the bill has been raised by Senator Joe Lieberman. Saying that this gives the government a switch to kill the Internet, Lieberman said that the Internet was a wide and open space and not the property of anyone.

In reality, the law actually stifles the president’s powers over the Internet. 1934’s communications act has stipulated the power of the president to shut down communication facilities in time of emergency. The bill will give the president the powers to regulate the Internet in times of emergency. As part of this bill, the US government will work with cyber security companies to create security policies and technologies to safeguard critical communications infrastructure.

The president can choose to shut down the Internet up to one hundred and twenty days, post which it requires approval. The most important thing is that the law will give the US Department of Homeland Security a free hand to do the needful in emergency times. Especially when the networks have been attacked by cyber-criminals or cyber-terrorists.

The main impediment for the homeland department was that most networks are not government owned. Rather, they are privately owned and managed. Private networks are soft targets for enemies of the state to sneak into the networks of the country.

Critics still feel that the ‘kill switch’ powers vested to the President of America will do little for the security, rather it will aggravate security concerns. Some industry analysts feel that intervention from the government will not do any good for security product technology. This is because security products follow their own rules when making products.Such a policy is still under debate. Only time will tell if such a bill is widely accepted, and if it will ever come into force.

Filed Under: Internet Tagged With: , ,

Types of Firewalls

All businesses that have computers connected to the Internet need to have a robust firewall system in place. Selecting a firewall is not that easy at it looks, and can become a thorn in the flesh. Given the variety and plenitude of products in the market, there is an embarrassment of choices. This article attempts to explain the types of firewall technologies prevalent now.

Application Gateways

Application Gateway or proxy gateways, comprise of bastion computer hosts that primarily function in a second-fiddle way. In other words they function as proxy servers. The firewall software on the bastion host computer works closely with the application layer of the OSI model. Client applications using the bastion hosts as a shield will have to configure themselves to route all requests through this bastion host.

Packet-filtering Gateway

Application gateways are more expensive than packet-filtering systems. This is because packet-filtering happens at the transport layer, more than the application layer. Routers are engaged to do packet-filtering tasks mostly.
Packet-filtering gateways are much faster due to the fact that they work at the transport layer. This means a host computer can use as many applications, and not worry of any obstruction to application performance.

But packet-filtering has its problems. Giving access to packets based on the IP addresses enclosed in the data packets is not foolproof. Packet-filtering gateways might not be intelligible enough to understand what is a genuine IP address and what is a fake IP address.

Hybrid Gateways

Hybrid gateway computers or systems combine application gateway with packet-filtering gateways. So it is like creating a new system that has security and speed. Because application gateways are more secure, and packet-filtering gateways are more faster.

Hybrid gateways make sure if a new data packet is a genuine one at the application layer. Then the session layer takes over. Packet-filtering mechanisms watch the whole session and ascertain if the packets are coming from the original source. If not they block it.

Filed Under: Computers Tagged With: , ,

Comparing kinds of Firewalls

Host, Network, and Enterprise Firewalls

Host firewalls are also called personal firewalls, as they are intended for personal use, and protect one computer. Network firewalls on the other hand give anti-virus protection to several computers. Not all network firewalls are similar in function, some may do better than the others.

Host firewalls are inexpensive when compared to network firewalls. Many direct subscriber line connections from the Internet service provider to the customer have network firewalls installed at the starting point.

Then there is another extension, or you could say, contextually different network firewall called enterprise firewall. Enterprise firewalls are designed to handle criss crossing and complex network infrastructure. They are expensive and need specialized knowledge to manage them.

Enterprise firewalls can handle more network users than network firewalls. They also have a centralized managerial capability of being able to handle many firewalls under their jurisdiction. The reporting and monitoring formats and methodologies of these firewalls are comprehensive and more detailed.

Enterprise firewalls can set multi-user policies which is a limitation with network firewalls. In organizations with many employees doing various types of jobs, this kind of access hierarchy or privilege is required. Unlike network firewalls, enterprise firewalls have high availability, and have fail-over mechanisms by using server-clustering technology.

Hardware and Software Firewalls

Hardware firewalls are quite confusing. That’s because firewalls work on firewall software that is stored on the hardware of the system. Actually, such a term is used for pre-installed firewall software. It also refers to certain firewalls that can only be installed on specific operating systems.

Software firewalls can be enterprise firewalls and personal firewalls. Hardware firewalls are understood to be ready to use upon delivery. Those that come with proprietary operating systems have more robustness in terms of security and reliability.

Hardware firewalls leave customers with no flexibility of adding network interfaces to the list, and the number of network interfaces that the firewall can take are pre-decided by the vendor.

Filed Under: Computers, Internet Tagged With: , ,
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