Why am I so confident in saying so? Simple: everything we have today in the modern world was once an earth-shaking discovery?in many cases, first conceived in fiction. For Instance, You Wouldn?t Be Reading This If Writing Wasn?t Invented There?s a lot that we have the ancient Mesopotamians to thank for, which are in many ways the foundations of our modern world. Every time we go to the office or the store or a friend?s house or even order delivery, we?re feeling their influence literally carry us. Who do you think actually invented the wheel? Or, in the case of ordering delivery or zipping to the store, agriculture, and transportation? The modern economy pretty significantly depends on math to function?which the Mesopotamians also significantly helped develop. Again, if the Mesopotamians had never invented written language, you might not be reading this blog?and if the number of love letters exchanged through history are any indication, a lot of people might not be here at all. Even the content of this ancient civilization?s written works show evidence of technologies that once were seen as incredible enhancements. The Epic of Gilgamesh, the first example of a transcribed epic story, shows numerous technologies being used by the titular hero in his quest as he pursues immortality?all of which are relatively commonplace, if not antiquated by today?s standards, but at the time, were seen as miraculous. AI is Just the Latest in a Line of Literary Inventions That Will Likely Be Just as Commonplace Artificial intelligence was yet another invention of past minds creating a story?specifically, in writer Samuel Butler?s 1872 addition to his creation Erewhon, titled The Book of the Machines. In this work, Butler touches on a variety of topics that we see today, including Moore?s Law (beating Moore by just shy of a century) by describing the rapid development of technology as well as artificial intelligence, with machines achieving some level of consciousness over time. So, it seems that at least two things are true: There really isn?t any such thing as an original idea. Technology will continue to advance, making the marvels of yesteryear seem modest in comparison. Just consider how quickly the technology that people use for work (a lot of which was predicted/inspired by the popular culture of the past) has advanced. Frankly, it can be hard to keep up, even with the technology we have at our disposal today. As Bob Dylan sang, ?For the times they are a-changin.? While we still can?t promise a lot of what is seen in fiction from years past, there is plenty we can provide to assist your business in its endeavors. Give White Mountain IT Services a call at (603) 889-0800 to see what we can do for you as a part of our managed services.

Here are the two methods you can use: Manual There is a method to manually create your shortcut, but when we say ?manual,? it?s not nearly as complicated as it might seem. Just right-click anywhere on your desktop and select New > Shortcut. When you see the dialog box, type your website URL into it and select Next. You?ll then be asked to enter a new name for your shortcut. After you?re ready, go ahead and click Finish. Your new icon should appear on your desktop. When you right-click on your icon, you can then select Properties to see the information for the shortcut. You can even change the URL if you want, assign a shortcut key, or change the icon. All you have to do to change the shortcut key is to click in the designated box and type the key you would like to use for your new shortcut. The system will then show you your key combination for the shortcut. Click-and-Drag This is the easier of the two methods, and all it takes is a click and drag of the shortcut?s URL to your desktop. This will also assign your shortcut a name associated with the website page?s name. Basically, it expedites the process and makes it just a bit faster to do. You can then right-click the shortcut, select Properties, and continue the process outlined above in the same way. It?s a pretty simple process, but it?s a pretty powerful result. You now have a shortcut to whatever webpage you need! You could also just use bookmarks, too, but we?re all about empowering users to learn more about technology and grow their confidence in using it, so even little tricks like this can be fun to share every once in a while. White Mountain IT Services can help your business implement technology tools to work toward its goals. To learn more, give us a call at (603) 889-0800.

Here are three reasons why you should consider replacing your ISP?s router with one that is hand-picked by your IT resource, or us at White Mountain IT Services. Your ISP?s Router is Nothing Special When you set up your ISP?s router, it might have been fine for the short-term, but you may have noticed that as your business grows, the router might not be able to keep up with your company?s wireless traffic demands. This is because the router is bare-bones in nature, i.e. something that is good for the general consumer rather than something designed specifically for businesses, let alone a business like yours. When so much of your company?s success hinges on access to wireless resources and networks, you shouldn?t leave anything up to chance; you should replace that router with one that suits your company?s needs. Security is a Main Factor As is the case with most technology in a business environment, you?ll want to consider security in your decision making process. The router your ISP provides might have the minimal required security standards in place, but they will not cut it for a business that houses sensitive information and transfers that information over a wireless network. Replacing it with a router that can stand up to the security standards you expect for a business-grade connection will be vital to your organization?s success. You Will Likely Need Multiple Bands and Connections At least, we recommend that you do, for a variety of reasons. Your ideal router will have multiple different bands for different types of devices. For example, some Internet of Things devices don?t need to operate on the same frequency as other, more powerful devices, like your company?s servers and workstations. Furthermore, we recommend that you get a router which allows you to create multiple networks. This is helpful for businesses that want to allow guests or employees to use personal devices on the network, while partitioning off the main network for business devices. This is also helpful for security reasons, so do try to set things up this way when possible. If you need assistance with procuring new hardware for your networking needs, White Mountain IT Services can help. We?ll work within your needs and your budget to get you the solutions your business needs to make the most out of its Internet connection. To learn more, call us at (603) 889-0800.

Wearable Technology Wearable technology as it is understood by most people is typically the use of fitness trackers or smart jewelry, but it can extend into innovative new technologies such as virtual reality headsets. In business, most of the time you will be dealing with endpoints such as smartwatches that must be considered if they are going to have access to your network, either directly through Wi-Fi or through access to your employees? smartphones.  What is crucial is data security inside a business environment. Many wearable devices don?t meet the demands of many of the compliance standards that your business may operate under, including HIPAA. More than that, since these devices get push notifications from an individual?s smartphone, they have some potential vulnerabilities that need to be addressed. Unfortunately, these devices often have a limited UI, making it difficult for organizations to improve the data security of the applications pushing communications to wearable technology. What You Need to Do to Ensure Wearables Don?t Pose Security Risks The first thing you need to do when you have people bringing devices onto your business? network is to concoct a reliable Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy. This will help to define how these devices can be used within the confines of a workplace. Many organizations have built their BYOD policy with smartphones in mind, but it is important that any BYOD policy is revised to cover the appearance of other Internet-connected devices.  Once your policies are ironclad and put in place, you need to have the management that this technology requires. This requires a reliable and robust Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that can control all the mobile endpoints brought onto the network. With proper management and control over these devices, the chances of a wearable vulnerability affecting the network is reduced significantly.   The truth is that people love new and exciting technology, and wearable technology will continue to grow and integrate itself into the business? IT strategy. If you would like to learn how to properly secure your business? IT from wearables to servers, give the IT professionals at White Mountain IT Services a call today at (603) 889-0800.

What is AI? Forget what Hollywood has taught you. Artificial intelligence isn?t a sentient robot that thinks and feels and has emotion, although in some cases it?s pretty good at making you think it is. We?ll touch on that in a bit, it?s weird and interesting. The point is, as of right now and for the foreseeable future, AI isn?t going to lead to robots that look like Arnold Schwarzenegger taking over the world. AI is going to change the world, and it is going to be disruptive, but you probably don?t need to unplug your smart appliances at night. Artificial intelligence, as of right now, is essentially machine learning. In the simplest terms, developers feed some software a ton of information, allow the software to learn and index the information, and then let the software reach conclusions based on this huge swath of information. It?s nothing new?most people use this type of AI every single day. Autocorrect is a perfect example of this. Autocorrect is good at fixing your typing blunders because it has plenty of experience watching millions of people accidentally tap out the word ?neeting? and correcting it to ?meeting.? Google search is completely automated; no human plays a role in dictating what sites show up when you search for things, and it?s been that way for over a decade. Essentially this automation is due to machine learning which is, more or less, the fundamental makings of modern AI. If you have Alexa or Google Home devices, you?ve experienced AI firsthand. These virtual assistants are powered by artificial intelligence and use machine learning based on all of the data they have access to. They are highly specialized?Alexa is essentially built around Amazon services to help you add products to your cart, but there are countless other features that make it useful around the home, like controlling your smart lights, playing music, sending messages to others, and providing answers to simple questions. As New Hampshire?s go-to technology leader, I?ve had to explain a couple of times that AI isn?t really something your business can just get or install. It?s something that you develop over time, and it costs millions of dollars and a lot of talented programmers. However, depending on your industry, it?s pretty likely that there are AI-fueled tools available to you. Some of the more modern developments in artificial intelligence are making this technology even more accessible for the masses. AI is as Cool as it is Freaky AI powers a lot of things, from the so-called self-driving capabilities in high-end cars to the support chatbot that picks up the phone when you call PayPal support. The concept has always been interesting with a lot of useful potential avenues, but it?s always been the most useful when you didn?t realize it was there. Calling a technical support number or using a support chat on a website that gives you regurgitated AI-driven answers tends to feel more like a hassle than a perk, but a car applying the breaks because it saw something dash into the road a full two seconds before you could even react can really do a lot of good in specific situations. And then you have the kind of AI that humans can interact with in a much broader sense, and things really start […]