It starts by being cognizant of how mobile technology has affected the way that we work. Since mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops now allow us to access important applications on the go, there is more emphasis placed on mobility than ever before. Being able to access and accomplish work from outside the office presents all sorts of possibilities, including the ability to go on a business trip without falling behind on your other tasks. It?s easy to see the benefit of mobile technology, but is mobile really advantageous for the average worker? There are various risks that come from mobile technology–specifically regarding work/life balance. According to an Accenture survey, 70% of respondents claim that work tends to invade their home life through technology, whether they like it or not. How can the modern business take advantage of the benefits that mobile technology brings, while respecting the sanctity of their employees? work/life balance? We?ll walk you through two of the basics. Ditch the ?Always On? FunctionalityTechnology can be a problematic factor as it has a tendency to increase worker stress levels. This comes from the fact that, if you?re using technology to always be available, even during your off-hours, you are probably pushing yourself harder than you need to. Both the employee and the employer have a responsibility to ensure that availability doesn?t come at the cost of your own sanity. Coordination with Other Teammates or DepartmentsDepending on your workforce, there might not always be a requirement that you be the one to address an issue. Perhaps someone else who is in the office (and NOT on vacation) could handle it for you. If you have to be out of the office for any particular reason, it?s best to have a backup plan to handle any mission-critical responsibilities. The point stands that mobile technology might make work easier to access, and provides the flexibility that the modern business cherishes, but just because something is accessible, doesn?t mean you have to be the one who access it. Separating life from work is important for every person, regardless of what they do. At White Mountain IT Services we can help your organization take full advantage of mobile devices, but it?s on you to have a strategy to keep your workers happy and productive. To learn more about how to utilize mobile technology for your business, call us today at (603) 889-0800.

Neglecting UpdatesTo look at your computer, you?d probably never guess that a war is waged every day over it. Yet software developers and hackers are locked in battle, working to improve their programs to thwart the others? in a digital arms race. While hackers work to create exploits for the vulnerabilities that a program may have, developers seek to improve protection of data and patch existing vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, while a hacker?s improvements are applied automatically, security improvements are released via updates, which require the user to activate. This means that if you have been neglecting your system updates, you have been leaving yourself vulnerable. Skipping the Terms and ConditionsWhile it may seem like a benign prospect, you could actually put yourself at risk by not reading the terms and conditions when prompted to accept them by a program you are trying to download and install. Try to resist the urge to click through before you?ve checked to see what you?re agreeing to. Oftentimes, these prompts will sneak in consent to have unwanted and unpleasant bloatware installed along with the program you intended to install. Before clicking ?Accept,? check with IT to be sure that everything is above board and secure. Not Accounting for Power FluctuationsWhile your computer relies on electricity in order to function, the relationship between your device and its energy source is far from perfect. If too much power is delivered (perhaps due to a lightning strike) you could find yourself dealing with the effects of a surge. These can damage hardware components and necessitate expensive repairs. Using a surge protector or an Uninterruptible Power Supply can help prevent these circumstances. In fact, a UPS will even sustain your devices for a few minutes if the power was to go out, allowing you to safely save and shutdown to avoid data loss. No BackupWe?ve said it before, and we?ll say it many more times: you need to have a backup solution in place to keep your business safe. As much as you may want to assume that a data loss event won?t darken your business? door, the chances of it happening are too great to ignore. By maintaining a comprehensive, cloud-based data backup solution, you give yourself the best chance of recovering your data whenever you need it. White Mountain IT Services can help keep you and your users from making too many mistakes, as well as assist you in bouncing back when errors are made. Call us at (603) 889-0800 for more information.

Some BackstoryBlack Friday was first established in the 1950s as a way to start the holiday shopping season off on a profitable note. In fact, Black Friday gets its name from its ability to bring stores and their annual profits out of the red and into the black. Cyber Monday, on the other hand, was born to encourage shoppers to use the new shopping capabilities to be found in ?cyberspace,? hence the name Cyber Monday. These sales often took place on Monday because, at this point, most personal users were still using dial-up Internet connections, while their offices had the faster connections. So Cyber Monday mainly got its start from workers who were doing their online shopping during work hours. These sales proved to be major money draws for online stores, so they made sure to make it as big of a deal, so to speak, as Black Friday. Nowadays, these two events have blended together somewhat. Black Friday?s sales can often be found online, as well as in-store. However, Cyber Monday will never make the move into brick-and-mortar establishments. Where (or When) The Best Deals are FoundOf course, there is no cut-and-dry answer to this question. There are many variables involved in finding the best deals for different items, and these factors change from year-to-year. Furthermore, if we only consider deals that take place on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we ignore another day that–at least last year–dominated, as far as the best deals are concerned: Thanksgiving Day itself. Turkey Day deals were the best of the three options in almost every category in electronics, computers, and beauty, were the best in half of the kinds of entertainment deals, and dominated home and garden purchases in all categories. Comparatively, Black Friday and Cyber Monday only managed to provide the ideal deals in, at most, one subset of each category. Sometimes, there was no competition, and Thanksgiving Day deals were just the best option. Notable exceptions were Android devices (Black Friday was the best time for these) and laptops (which were available for the best deals on Cyber Monday). Of course, since these are the results from last year, they may offer no valuable insights into this year?s tendencies at all. If you consider yourself a true bargain hunter, it may be wise to find an app that directs you to nearby deals or offers rewards for shopping and scanning your receipt. You also have to take into consideration the other, non-financial costs involved in each form of shopping during this time. For example, the convenience of Cyber Monday often offsets the slightly less-good deals that one may find. After all, isn?t it easier to order something in a few clicks to have it brought to your door than it would be to wait outside in the wee hours of the morning and fight your way through crowds of people, all for a difference of a few dollars? And to the same point, is the difference of a few dollars worth sacrificing the quality time a holiday can bring to scramble around a store? So, to answer the question of when is the best day to find a great deal on holiday gifts (and maybe a little something for yourself): it all depends, so you?ll have to do a bit […]

Holidays are the perfect chance for hackers to take advantage of unsuspecting consumers, which means that you need to take extra precaution when doing your holiday shopping. Just a few short years ago, Target suffered a massive data breach around the holiday season that exposed countless users? personal and financial information, putting the exposed people in peril and ruining many a holiday season. We?ll walk you through some tips about how to be careful both in-store and online. Look for Encryption ProtocolBefore you shop for anything online, look for encryption protocol set up on any retail websites or payment portals. By this, we mean that the site has been equipped with HTTPS security protocol, which hides your payment credentials behind a layer of encryption designed to obfuscate your information in the event of a breach. Furthermore, you should only shop via trusted online retailers and not sketchy unheard-of stores for hard-to-find items. Make Purchases with CashOne of the best ways to keep your credit card information safe during the holiday season is to just make purchases with cash. This is a simple preventative method, but it can be somewhat risky to carry a lot of cash in case of theft or loss. It?s all about risk management, so only carry what you need. Use Online WalletsServices like Apple Pay and Android Pay can act as a go-between for the retailer and your bank account, and as long as you only add cash as part of a one-time addition (so that the app doesn?t store your information), you can effectively limit the risk associated with using these services to make payments. Due to the increase in popularity of smartphones over the past several years, most retailers accept some form of payment via smartphone app. Just do a little bit of research beforehand so that you?re not caught off-guard when a retailer doesn?t allow it. With these tips from White Mountain IT Services, you?ll be sure to stay safe during this holiday season.

The New iPhones: 8, 8 Plus, and XWe know what you?re probably thinking. With three major iPhones on the market, how can you know which one meets your specific needs? The iPhone 8 and 8 plus opt for a glass case backing rather than aluminum, which lends itself to more overall bulk and weight (which isn?t necessarily a bad thing, as anyone who has dropped their phone knows). If you?re familiar with the iPhone 6 series of smartphones, you?ll notice a lot is familiar. You still have the Touch ID, which isn?t available on the iPhone X in favor of the more recent implementation of Face ID facial recognition. Basically, the main difference between the iPhone 8/8 Plus and the iPhone X are the display, camera, and the internal specs–however, the iPhone X is much more expensive than its predecessors, whereas the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus will likely yield a similar experience at a more affordable cost compared to the iPhone X. Model: iPhone 8Construction: Front/back glass & aluminum frameScreen Size: 4.7-inchDisplay: LED-backlit IPS LCD, 16M Colors, 1,334 x 759 (~326 ppi)SIM: Nano-SIMChipset: Apple A11 BionicCPU-GPU: Hexa-core (2x Monsoon + 4x Mistral) – Apple GPUOperating System: iOS 11 Memory Internal: 64GB or 246 GB models; 2GB of RAMExpandable: None Cameras Primary: 12 MP, f/1.8, 28mm, phase detection autofocus, OIS, quad-LED flashFront-Facing: 7 MP, f/2.2, face detection Audio: Built-in stereo speakers, No 3.5mm headphone jackSensors: Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometerFeatures: Fast charging, Qi Wireless charging, Siri commands and dictation, iCloud integrationBattery size-life: 1,821 mAh battery – 66 hoursAvailable Colors: Silver, Space Grey, GoldPrice: $699.99-to-$899.99 Model: iPhone 8 PlusConstruction: Front/back glass & aluminum frameScreen Size: 5.5-inchDisplay: LED-backlit IPS LCD, 16M Colors, 1920×1080 (~401 ppi)SIM: Nano-SIMChipset: A11 BionicCPU-GPU: Hexa-core (2x Monsoon + 4x Mistral) – Apple GPUOperating System: iOS 11 Memory Internal: 64GB or 246 GB models; 3GB of RAMExpandable: None Cameras Primary: Dual 12 MP, f/1.8, 28mm and f/2.8, 56mm) phase detection autofocus, 2x optical zoom, quad-LED flashFront-Facing: 7 MP, f/2.2, face detection Audio: Built-in stereo speakers, No 3.5mm headphone jackSensors: Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometerFeatures: Fast charging, Qi Wireless charging, Siri commands and dictation, iCloud integrationBattery size-life: 2,691 mAh battery – 81 hoursAvailable Colors: Silver, Space Grey, GoldPrice: $799.99-to-$999.99 Model: Apple iPhone XConstruction: Front/back glass & stainless steel frameScreen Size: 5.8-inchDisplay: Super AMOLED, 16M Colors, 2,436×1,125 ( ~458 ppi)SIM: Nano-SIMChipset: Apple A11 BionicCPU-GPU: Hexa-core 2.39 Ghz (2x Monsoon + 4x Mistral) – Apple GPUOperating System: iOS 11.1 Memory Internal: 64 and 256 GB models; 3GB RAMExpandable: None Cameras Primary: Dual 12 MP, f/1.8, 28mm and f/2.4, 52mm) phase detection autofocus, 2x optical zoom, quad-LED flashFront-Facing: 7 MP, f/2.2, face detection Audio: Built-in stereo speakers, No 3.5mm headphone jackSensors: FaceID, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometerFeatures: Fast charging, Qi Wireless charging, Siri commands and dictation, iCloud integrationBattery size-life: 2,716 mAh battery – 74 hoursAvailable Colors: Silver, Space GreyPrice: $999.99-to-$1,149.99 Samsung Galaxy s8 and Note 8Have you ever wondered what the difference is between the Samsung Galaxy line of smartphones and the Note line? Hopefully we can give you some tips to pick the one that works best for your needs. Compared to past Galaxy and Note devices, the screen sizes are larger and more technically detailed, which could allow for greater user experience and more enjoyable media consumption. However, the […]