What is Google Fiber?Google Fiber initially began as an experiment that was designed to deliver high-speed Internet and cable television to the Kansas City metropolitan area, but has since developed into a full-fledged Internet provider for a number of locations around the United States. As explained by CIO: And optical fiber is the only choice for connectivity that exceed 1,000 Mbps, aka Gigabit Internet. Optical fiber provides higher bandwidths ? download speeds 40 times faster and upload speeds more than 300 times faster than garden variety broadband ? and spans much longer distances than electrical cabling. And some companies, such as Bell Labs, Cisco, and Comcast are claiming that their new “fiber optic” services (when eventually installed) will be 10 times faster than Google. Google Fiber ReceptionMany people are finding Google Fiber to be an exceptionally potent way to keep both their personal lives and their businesses online. Especially in light of the controversy surrounding Comcast and Time Warner Cable in recent years, folks in participating cities are happy to have an alternative for their Internet. In particular, businesses in areas where Fiber is available are finding that they appreciate the fast Internet access, citing that the service is cheap and convenient for their purposes. On the other hand, however, there have been some instances where Google?s bundled services aren?t up to snuff, including a major complaint over privacy. Apparently, Google?s systems scan your activity in order to customize advertisements for Gmail and YouTube. These settings can be altered, but should only be attempted by your trusted IT technicians. You need fast and efficient access to the Internet and all of your cloud storage, including applications and data stored online. When you have trouble accessing mission-critical data like this, it can impede operations and threaten your entire business model. Therefore, what you need from your Internet and wireless solutions is simple: reliability with the ability to scale and expand in accordance with your organization?s growth. When it comes to wired and wireless technology, White Mountain IT Services has the skills necessary to help your organization optimize its cabling and Internet deployment infrastructure. For more information, contact White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800.

For example, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is one of the biggest new movies coming to theaters this month. We know barely anything about it, and sometimes it?s best to keep it that way so you don?t spoil yourself before seeing it in all of its glory. The Chrome extension, Spoiler Alert, can block web content according to protocol that you assign to it. All you have to do is sign up with your email and date of birth, which is a small price to pay considering that you?ll be blocking content specific to your favorite TV shows and such. CNet claims that the only movie currently available is The Force Awakens, but that will probably change in the future. Spoiler Alert can even block content from other popular media, like sports events and huge pop culture hits like The Walking Dead. You won?t have to worry about who survives through an episode or what the score of the big game is. You can even use Spoiler Alert to block political discussions, if you are sick of seeing people complaining about current issues. However, Spoiler Alert is still far from ideal. As explained by Rick Broida at CNet: One problem I discovered is that Spoiler Alert doesn’t seem to work past the initial page-load. So on Facebook, for example, if you scroll down far enough that the site loads more content, the extension doesn’t block anything in that additional load. That’s a problem. But this blocker is still in beta, so hopefully the developers can address that. In the meantime, I’m just happy to have at least some line of defense against our spoiler culture. Seriously, people, why would you want to know everything (or anything) about “The Force Awakens” before getting to the theater? Spoiler Alert also has some funky functionality from time to time; sometimes it only blocks headings, titles, or text, leaving the images in place. Other times, it will block the entire site, while asking the user whether or not their sure they want to enter the spoiler-filled site. The spoiler settings are adjustable, allowing for relatively dynamic control over what appears and what is blocked. Granted, you can avoid most, if not all news related to your favorite shows or movies, by avoiding the major news aggregates and social media sites. The problem here is that you also want to keep an eye on recent developments in your chosen industry, which is one of the main reasons that organizations find the Internet so useful. You shouldn?t be prevented from maximizing your productivity and finding new leads just because you don?t want to have your fun ruined by spoilers. Spoiler Alert should be able to help you avoid some major spoilers while on the Internet, but we?re always looking for better technology to make lives easier for consumers. What are some of the best ways you can think of to avoid being spoiled by the Internet? Let us know in the comments.

You?ve got plenty of services to choose from, but three stand out from the crowd. The best thing about these digital services is that the person you?re giving the gift to will think of you every time they open the app, and judging by how time-consuming these apps are, it could mean that they?ll be thinking about your generosity–a lot! Let?s compare these online video-streaming services for the sake of holiday gift giving. Netflix – Starts at $7.99 a MonthWith more than 65 million subscribers, Netflix is a popular subscription-based online video streaming service that?s drawing the ire of broadcast television networks. It has plenty of movies and TV shows to choose from, and Netflix has upped its game by adding lots of exclusive content. Of course, with this many users, there?s a fairly good chance that most people on your gift list are already using Netflix, so it might be a good idea to bring up Netflix casually in a conversation before paying for a subscription as a gift, or you could offer to cover the renewal of their existing subscription. Although, gifting Netflix isn?t limited to just online video streaming. Netflix still offers a DVD-by-mail service. Even though getting movies in the mail isn?t as instantly gratifying as pressing play, it does cause one to actually look forward to opening their bill-laden mailbox–and that is a gift that keeps on giving! Amazon Prime – $99 a YearAmazon Prime also has millions of members, up to 80 million at the time of this publication. Therefore, like Netflix, you?ll want to first find out if your intended gift recipient is already an Amazon Prime member or not. Also like Netflix, Prime comes with its own online streaming entertainment service with thousands of TV shows and movies to choose from. One advantage of Prime is that it gives users the option to rent more recent movies–similar to pay-per-view. However, streaming entertainment is merely one aspect of Amazon Prime. The most useful Prime feature is its free, two-day shipping service on selected products from Amazon?s massive web store. With some savvy shopping, one can actually purchase enough items from Amazon that what they?ll save in shipping will more than pay for the prime membership. Additionally, Amazon really knows how to spread the cheer with Prime by tacking on a whole mess of additional membership benefits, like Prime Music, Prime Photos, Prime Pantry, Prime Early Access, Kindle Owner?s Lending Library, and more. Plus, if you actually use Prime to buy physical presents for people, they?ll gift wrap it for a small charge. Hulu Plus – Starts at $7.99Not to be left out of the video-streaming party, Hulu Plus brings a unique offering to consumers by streaming television shows shortly after they air. This, in addition to their healthy library of TV shows and movies, makes it a valuable gift that keeps on giving this holiday season. Like Netflix, Hulu is getting into the original content game by producing shows of its own. At this point, Hulu Plus has 9 million subscribers, which means that there?s a greater chance that someone on your gift list wouldn?t already have it. Each online service is different enough that one of them is sure to be a hit with someone on your holiday gift list. Or, you […]

E-waste is defined by ewasteguide.info as: e-Waste for short – or Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) – is the term used to describe old, end-of-life or discarded appliances using electricity. It includes computers, consumer electronics, fridges etc which have been disposed of by their original users. On this website – the e-Waste Guide – “e-waste” is used as a generic term embracing all types of waste containing electrically powered components. e-Waste contains both valuable materials as well as hazardous materials which require special handling and recycling methods. In more basic terms, your computers, servers, network components, and other hardware, all contain valuable metals that could be dangerous to the environment if they aren?t recycled properly. With a proper workflow set up for recycling these materials, old devices getting thrown out shouldn?t be a problem, right? Wrong. Most of the world?s e-waste is sent to third-world countries that don?t have environmentally friendly practices for recycling these devices. Here?s your daily dose of capitalism: it?s actually much cheaper to ship discarded devices overseas rather than recycling them, which leads to large accumulations of the devices that pile up in places like Guiyu, China. Dubbed the e-waste capital of the world by Slate, Guiyu has a population of around 150,000. One of the large industries in Guiyu is dismantling discarded devices and obtaining the valuable metals. While it?s great that they?re finding ways to make the most out of the e-waste problem, another huge issue is that their unregulated methods are very dangerous to both the population and the surrounding environment. For example, Slate explains that ?to extract metals from a circuit board, the workers burn each part over an open fire; this process releases large amounts of toxic gas into the air and the town?s water supply.? This practice is naturally a cause for concern, especially considering the fact that the pollution winds up in the bloodstream of the inhabitants in the form of harmful metals like lead, copper, zinc, etc. The most effective way to take the fight to environmental pollution caused by e-waste is for your business to go through the proper recycling process. First thing?s first: make sure that none of your devices are still storing critical or sensitive information. It helps to have a trusted technology professional on-hand during this process, like those at White Mountain IT Services. Following best practices when ditching your old technology is imperative, especially when you consider what could happen if some stranger (or worse, a hacker) were to find your device and resuscitate it. Once you?re sure that no more information is on the device, it can safely be recycled through the proper channels. We can assist you with this, too; White Mountain IT Services can recycle your old technology in an environmentally-friendly manner. The best way to handle the implementation of new technology and the recycling of your old technology is to contact White Mountain IT Services. To learn more, give us a call at (603) 889-0800.

Plugging Your Computer Equipment Directly Into an Outlet This best practice might come as a bit of a shock to those who don?t think twice about plugging anything and everything directly into outlets, but the truth of the matter is that plugging computer equipment into outlets can cause irreversible damage. This is due to power fluctuations that happen within a building?s wiring–as seen when the lights suddenly grow dimmer and then brighter. Instead, make use of a surge protector. This is an easy-to-find power strip designed to regulate electrical surges. For many power strip models, you can actually see the power fluctuations inside the flickering on/off button. When choosing a power strip, it?s important to use a surge protector that?s rated to protect computer equipment, instead of a cheap model only designed to provide extra outlets. The best thing you can do to protect your computer equipment from power inconsistencies is to plug your gear into an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS). This is a heavy duty solution that comes equipped with a battery in order to provide consistent power for a short period of time in the event of a power loss. Clicking ?Ok? or ?Next? Without Reading What You?re Agreeing ToIs anybody else guilty of this? We?ve all done it, and while you can probably get away with skimming over the content of a software agreement for something like an OS update, you definitely want to pay attention to the details of an agreement from a third-party company. ComputerHope.com explains: It is not uncommon for new users to click Ok or Next without reading what they are agreeing to and not making sure there are no checkboxes still checked. Make sure you read every prompt before agreeing, or you may be agreeing to install new browser toolbars, a program you didn’t intend to install, or other crapware. Opening Unknown Email AttachmentsHopefully, you have a spam filter in place to keep the majority of email threats out of your inbox. However, even the best email security solutions let a few bad apples through, which leaves the user’s discretion as the last line of defense. Hackers know this, which is why they use email phishing tactics to try and trick people into downloading a corrupt email attachment. These fake messages often disguise themselves as originating from a trustworthy source, like one?s bank or even their own IT department. It?s up to the user to spot the scam, which takes a keen eye. Therefore, take the time to carefully look over every email message before downloading its attachment. If you suspect that something’s sketchy about it, then you?re probably right. One way to double check the validity of the message is to reach out to the sender over the phone and ask them if they?ve emailed you–using the phone number that you have on record, not the one provided in the bogus email. Don?t feel bad if you?re guilty of falling for any of these common PC mistakes. This is why it?s important to learn PC best practices, so that you won?t fall for them again and put your system at risk. To learn more PC tips and best practices that will keep your computers in good working order, subscribe to White Mountain IT Services?s blog and give us a call at (603) 889-0800.