Putting technology expertise to work for your business. More by Tony Bradley
Move over iCloud, there’s a new app in town. Younity, a personal cloud service, launched a public beta today of its mobile app that enables iPhone and iPad users to access data seamlessly from Mac OS X or Windows PCs.
The premise is fairly simple: Download Younity on your Mac OS X or Windows computer and set up an account. Younity scans the entire PC to find documents, songs, photos, and videos, and then makes that data available to your mobile devices. When you install Younity on your iPhone or iPad and log in to the account you created, your iOS devices can instantly access all of the data catalogued by Younity.
It’s not all sunshine and roses, though. Let’s start with the good stuff: The data doesn't have to be placed in specific folders in order to be available via Younity, and it isn't stored in the cloud. Nor is data synced across devices—so you don’t have to worry that data available through Younity will eat up the limited storage capacity on your iPhone or iPad.
Putting technology expertise to work for your business. More by Tony Bradley
There is a diverse array of tablet options to daze and amaze shoppers this holiday season. Microsoft has a solid contender with its current Surface tablet, but it runs the more limited Windows RT operating system that was designed for use with ARM-based processors. I’ve already examined how the Surface RT beats the iPad, and how the iPad beats the Surface RT, but how what about tablets that run the more powerful Windows 8 Pro OS?
The Samsung Series 7 Slate boasts an Intel Core i5 processor.
Well, Microsoft itself will offer a Surface Pro in the near future that runs the full Windows 8 Pro instead of Windows RT. The Microsoft tablet is slated for a January 2013 release— although there is speculation it could hit the street in December. Microsoft has just announced official pricing for the Surface Pro: a 64GB unit will be $900, and the 128GB tablet will be $1000.
Putting technology expertise to work for your business. More by Tony Bradley
This isn't the first year that tablets are a hot gift item, but it is the first holiday season that enough serious contenders make the buying decision tougher. Following my reasons you should consider the Microsoft Surface with Windows RT over the Apple iPad, here are features and benefits that give the iPad an advantage over the Surface with Windows RT.
1. Heft
I started off calling this one “Size” or “Weight”, but the reality is that in terms of the actual specifications, the iPad and Surface RT are identical in thickness at 0.37 inches each, and the difference in weight seems negligible. The iPad weighs 1.44 pounds compared to 1.5 pounds for the Surface RT. There is no cellular Surface RT option, but the 4G iPad weighs slightly more than its Wi-Fi only sibling at 1.46 pounds.
Putting technology expertise to work for your business. More by Tony Bradley
What do you do when you call a co-worker but they’re not at their desk to answer the phone? You might send a text message to their mobile phone to try and reach them, but people using their own mobile devices may be reluctant to share their personal mobile number for business purposes. RingCentral may have a solution for that.
It is adding a new feature to its cloud-based business phone service that enables your business number to be the focal point for text messaging as well as voice and fax calls. The text messages can still be routed to an iOS or Android personal mobile device, but the sender only needs to know the business number, so there is a consistent, professional point of contact that also maintains a veil of separation between work and personal life. A "Do Not Disturb" feature enables users to stop receiving business-related communications after hours--and RingCentral simply holds the texts, calls, and fax messages until it's enable again.
RingCentral Office lets managers send a text message en masse to entire departments without having to look up each individual phone number. The RingCentral tool also makes it easier for users to keep track of business voice, fax, and text messages by organizing them together in one place.
Putting technology expertise to work for your business. More by Tony Bradley
I’ve had a month to play with the Microsoft Surface with Windows RT tablet. Microsoft faces a serious challenge to compete against devices like the Apple iPad, Google Nexus 10, Kindle Fire HD 8.9, and other full-size tablets. But, Microsoft deserves some kudos for engineering a very solid, capable device to show off the Windows RT platform.
When I box the Surface RT tablet up and send it back to Microsoft, I’ll just go back to using my trusty iPad. But, there are a number of features of the Surface RT that I will miss.
The kickstand makes the Surface RT function like a laptop.Read more »
Putting technology expertise to work for your business. More by Tony Bradley
Lync 2013 has a variety of benefits that businesses can take advantage of to make internal and external communications more effective and efficient.
Lync, which comes bundled with Office 365 business subscriptions, is Microsoft’s server platform for unified communications. In a former life, it went by the longer, but more accurately descriptive name Office Communications Server. Lync ties real-time presence information with instant messaging, video conferencing, and voice communication, and it integrates with Exchange email and Microsoft Office applications.
Here are 5 reasons businesses can benefit from adopting Lync 2013:
Putting technology expertise to work for your business. More by Tony Bradley
The Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) is a suite of tools available to Microsoft Software Assurance customers that enables IT admins to manage Microsoft environments more effectively. App-V—one of the tools included in MDOP—has been updated with significant enhancements IT admins and users will appreciate.
What is App-V
Let’s start with a little background on App-V, which is short for application virtualization. Rather than having you install separate copies of software on individual PCs, App-V enables organizations to host the application and deliver it virtually to users. From the user’s perspective, the software looks and acts as if it’s installed locally, but from the IT admin’s point of view it is much easier to manage and maintain a single instance of the application.
