Here are four ways that cloud computing is changing the way that businesses function. Data StorageThe cloud?s primary function for many organizations is that of data storage and deployment. Businesses like the ability to store their information in secure, off-site locations, and the cloud?s added ability to access information via the Internet makes it a great alternative to storing data in remote data centers. Storing data in the cloud allows any employee who?s using an approved device to access mission-critical information, which gives them more flexibility than simply working in the office. Application DeploymentYour team needs access to various applications and software solutions on a daily basis. If they lose access to these programs, their productivity can suffer and so too will your bottom line. By using the cloud as a deployment option for your mission-critical applications, your team can access the software they need to perform their daily duties anywhere with an Internet connection. This opens up all sorts of opportunities for cost savings, including providing them with the ability to work from anywhere. VirtualizationBusinesses that take advantage of the cloud can leverage virtualization benefits to their advantage. When we say virtualization, we?re talking about the abstraction of IT resources, like servers and desktops, and storing them in the cloud for deployment. Virtualizing IT resources removes the physical cost of operating this equipment, allowing you to save on operational costs and dodge hardware failure. This is a pretty broad capability with a lot of uses. For example, you can deploy all of your users? desktops virtually from the cloud so you don?t need to rely on the hardware the user is using. Simply dial into your company cloud and access all of your applications and data on virtually any Internet connected device. Backup and Disaster RecoveryThe cloud is a critical part of a proper backup and disaster recovery solution. The BDR device takes multiple snapshots of your business?s data, and then sends the copies to both a secure, off-site data center, and to the cloud for easy deployment and access. The BDR device can then take the place of your server temporarily while you find a more permanent solution. The cloud is what allows BDR to work, as the restored data is deployed to the BDR device via the cloud. As you can see, the cloud has a myriad of great uses for the SMB market. Depending on your business?s specific needs for data control, you?ll want to implement either a public, private, or hybrid cloud solution. White Mountain IT Services can help your business get the most out of your cloud solution. For more information about the options that are available to, give us a call at (603) 889-0800.

Probably the most attractive feature of Google Chromecast is that it essentially turns any compatible screen into a smart TV, allowing you to utilize popular apps via your smartphone or desktop that?s equipped with Chromecast capabilities. Here are five of the best Google Chromecast features that new users will want to take advantage of. Stream music: If you?re already using popular music streaming apps like Spotify and Pandora, then you?re going to love having the ability to cast your favorite songs on the big screen. What?s more, if your television is equipped with a rockin? sound system, then you can get rid of that bulky CD and record player and replace them both with Google Chromecast. Stream video: The video watching options for Google Chromecast are as vast as there are ways to digitally watch a video. Some of the more popular uses for watching video via Chromecast are by utilizing apps like YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix. Basically, if your computer can play a video, you can cast it on your TV. View pictures: With Chromecast, you can turn your TV into a screensaver that cycles through HD photos. This is a sure way to enhance any room. Google Chrome actually has an app specifically designed for this purpose which taps into thousands of photo libraries ranging from NASA, 500x, and even your own! Mirror your device?s browser: With Chromecast, whatever is going on in Chrome can easily be casted to your TV. This feature has the potential to really enhance office presentations. Additionally, it?s easy for multiple users to take control of the big screen by casting what?s on their device, which can help someone explain their point at an office meeting. Use VideoStream: One handy app made for Chromecast is VideoStream. This is a super easy way to drag video files to your Chrome browser and play them on your Chromecast-connected TV. Every serious Chromecast user will want to download this free app. Actually, these five Google Chromecast features are just the beginning of what this little device can do. There are several apps designed specifically for it and they?re worth exploring if you get the chance. Do you use Google Chromecast? What are your favorite uses for this fantastic product? Sound off in the comments.

Google, with its seemingly limitless funding, can, of course, provide their employees with every imaginable benefit under the sun. Take for example just some these perks Google provides their staff (aka, ?Googlers?), as reported by Inc. The free gourmet food and snacks are never-ending. Googlers at the Mountain View campus get a free ride to and from work. The TechStop helps Googlers stay plugged in with 24-7 tech support. Free “massage credits.” New parents get the break they deserve. New dads receive six weeks of paid leave, and moms can take 18 weeks, and employees’ stock continues to vest (and they continue to receive bonuses) while they are on leave. If a Googler passes away while working there, all their stock vests immediately, and, on top of the life insurance payout, their surviving spouse continues to get half of the Googler’s salary for the next 10 years. Employees get free fitness classes, gym access, and are encouraged to participate in organized intramural sports. Google employees can get extended time off to follow their passions. Due to the sobering fact that you?re not Google, let?s face it, sometimes money is tight and you as a business owner must make the hard choice of what to cut in order to make payroll. In trying times like these, before you lay anybody off, you?ll first want to attempt to save money by making cuts to perks that may be draining your budget. While nobody enjoys making cuts, sometimes cuts are necessary in order to get a handle on out-of-control expenses and to better allocate resources. Ask yourself, ?Can your business do without perks such as these?? Company PartiesBusinesses have a reputation for knowing how to throw some pretty extravagant company parties. Take for example Yahoo?s $7 million ?Great Gatsby? themed party thrown last December. What makes such a party outrageous and newsworthy isn?t so much the price tag; it?s the fact that Yahoo recently laid off 15 percent of its staff after posting massive losses. For an employee who just watched their peers lose their jobs due to ?budget cuts,? moves like this can be maddening. This, in turn, will sink employee morale, which is the complete opposite of what a company is trying to accomplish by throwing a party. An alternative option: Instead of dropping huge sums of cash to rent out a yacht and party bus, keep it simple. You can still have a party, but many of your employees will have just as much fun at a small gathering with punch and pizza, or even a potluck event. Free Food and SnacksIt?s well known that providing employees with food makes the office a much more pleasant place to work at. However, when money gets tight and you start feeding your staff excuses that you can?t afford raises along with food, then even the most tasty of meals will lose its flavor. As great as free food is, at the end of the day, most employees would prefer a raise and/or keeping their job. High Executive SalariesThere?s just something inherently wrong about a company executive who cuts jobs citing budget concerns while giving themselves a fat raise. Take for example Viacom?s CEO Philippe Dauman who recently gave himself a board-approved raise of 22 percent (which translates to a cool $54.2 million per […]

One of these ?things? in the news at the moment is a BB-8 droid toy built by Sphero. This toy, consisting of a typical Sphero, is a commercially available, app-controlled, robotic ball, that has been painted up like BB-8, the mischievous Droid from Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens and marketed to people who want their very own droid. How can a seemingly irrelevant toy be at risk? In a recent report, security experts were able to exploit a bug and ?hack? into a BB-8 toy through its integrated wireless communication systems. This allowed them to inject code into the phone, which couples as the device?s remote. In the report, hackers were able to take full of control over the device in what is called a man-in-the-middle attack. While this particular case doesn?t reveal anything perilous, a man-in-the-middle attack can potentially be very dangerous if targeting something of substance. Man-In-the-MiddleIt?s not hard to understand what a man-in-the-middle attack is. For an analogy, you can go back to the first grade. Remember the game ?telephone? that you used to play when you were a child? A man-in-the-middle hack produces similar results. Essentially, a person sends a message and the recipient receives it, but in the process of being relayed the message, someone adds or omits some crucial element of the message. Just imagine that instead of the sentence, ?Jane runs through the forest,? the message that was interrupted and manipulated is a customer?s credit card number. To completely understand the man-in-the-middle attack, you need to realize that, with the advent and use of wireless systems, more entities are at risk for this type of hack than ever before. This is why it?s important to implement safeguards to ensure that the information you send, regardless of whether you?re sending instructions for a toy from your smartphone, or an essential file from a PC to your server. You need to make sure that your commands are sent securely and get to the recipient in the way the sender had intended. Precautions such as remote monitoring and management, that include intrusion detection, and other protocols that work toward cyber security, are good solutions to combat potential network security. Potential for Attacks Require SolutionsWireless technology has altered a great many things. Cumbersome, wired systems that people have had to fumble with, are largely a thing of the past. Now people have to determine whether or not wireless systems are secure to use, and if they aren?t, they have to do what they can to secure them. There are literally hundreds of solutions to help users secure their devices, whether it be from a mobile device or a PC/Mac running off a wireless network. In some cases, however, an inconsequential and seemingly irrelevant piece of the puzzle (like in this case, a toy with buggy software), could potentially leave you exposed.