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 […]

Let?s talk about some of the things that should be included in your backup and disaster recovery (BDR) preparations. What Should Be Involved in Your Business? BDR? We always recommend that your backup strategy follow what is commonly known as the 3-2-1 Backup rule. This rule can be summed up as follows: You maintain at least three copies of your data This data should be stored in at least two different storage media One of these copies should be maintained offsite, ideally, in the cloud These are the basics. However, for some additional value, we can go a bit deeper into the weeds and describe what a good backup will need. Optimal Elements of a BDR that?s Designed for Success Include: Image-Based Backups Which sounds quicker to you: recreating each file that was lost individually, or dropping in a complete copy of your data storage all at once? This is the ?magic,? of sorts, that image-based backups provide. Time is of the essence in a data loss situation, so the faster data can be restored, the better. Redundant Elements While redundancy isn?t often a good thing, backups are a shining exception. The more redundant your data is, the better, because you?ll know that you have a spare if something happens to one copy. However, your redundancy doesn?t have to stop there (and really shouldn?t). You need to make sure that your backups have guaranteed power, for instance, making redundant power supplies a necessity. The same goes for Internet connectivity?running multiple connections helps ensure you?ll retain access. Protections and Defenses Finally, you need to be sure that your backups aren’t going to suffer from various security issues. It wouldn?t be good if your backups were infected by ransomware, for instance, or if someone managed to steal the data as you were backing it up. Therefore, you should have all of the protections you would have at your place of business also implemented where your backups are, and always make sure your transmitted data is appropriately encrypted. White Mountain IT Services is here to help you make the most of your backup and disaster recovery planning. Learn more by reaching out at (603) 889-0800.

Infonomics and Your Data?s Value Your business? data has a certain value to you, and depending on whose data it is, to your clients, vendors, employees, and whomever else trusts you enough to share their personal data with you. At any rate, any data loss is a big deal; and nowadays it has become a large field of study called infonomics. Infonomics can put an actual dollar value on the data your organization has on hand and uses some very poignant questions to do so. These questions include: How much capital would replacing the data cost?  How much and what percentage is your organization?s data? What kind of revenue could your organization see if it were to buy and sell it?  What will it cost to completely protect the data?  These questions will go a long way toward making you understand exactly what kind of data you need to protect in order to keep your business from suffering some of the negative circumstances brought on by data loss. Let?s take a look at some concepts you need to understand if you are going to successfully protect your organization’s data. Data Backup The first is one of the most obvious. In order to keep data from being lost, many organizations roll out comprehensive data backup systems that take snapshots of data as it changes. This provides an extraordinarily useful tool for network administrators to have if the data is corrupted or has been lost or damaged somehow. At White Mountain IT Services, we offer a backup and disaster recovery service that features incremental backups that are stored both locally in a network-attached device, and offsite in a secure data center. The total data redundancy ensures that you will always have access to the data you need, when you need it.  Disaster Recovery The disaster recovery part of the BDR is not to be taken lightly. For data recovery, you make contingencies for situations and hope that you never have to use them. The two main factors in a disaster recovery platform are: Recovery Point Objective (RPO) – The amount of time that your core business processes can be interrupted before your business begins to fail. Recovery Time Objective (RTO) – The amount of time your business can withstand interruption before it can be considered a complete break in continuity.  The shorter the duration of RPO and RTO, the more diligent you have to be in keeping data ready for recovery. In managing your organizational expectations in regard to business continuity, it is essential that any strategy has succinctly taken into account the disaster recovery metrics. These will always dictate how you need to approach data recovery.  At White Mountain IT Services, we take data redundancy extremely seriously, and would like to help your organization set up a backup and disaster recovery platform that works to protect your business? most important asset: its data. For more information call the IT professionals at (603) 889-0800 today.

Turn on Notification History The first thing you need to do to turn on your notification history is to open your Settings app and navigate to the Notifications option. Opening this menu, you should see an option for Notifications History. It should be turned off by default so you will want to toggle that on. Access Your Notification History Once that is enabled, you can then access your notifications history. To view it, you will need to swipe down like you would to view your notifications and at the bottom of the pane you should see the new option for History.  You will now be able to see the notifications for your apps for the previous 24 hours. Unfortunately, keeping notifications for longer would use up a lot of available space on the handset. 24 hours should be enough for you to retrieve any notification you may need but impulsively deleted.  For more tips and tricks, be sure to subscribe to our monthly newsletter and check out our blog for more articles on Android and other business technologies.

So, let?s start from the beginning and explore the concept of a Power Hour, as proposed by Adrienne Herbert in her book Power Hour: How to Focus on Your Goals and Create a Life You Love. So, What?s a ?Power Hour?? A Power Hour is the brief period of time that a person devotes their full attention to a specific task?typically, an hour?to really optimize the time spent on that task. Herbert describes it in the terms of using it on a personal intention, but it could just as easily be applied to a challenging work project or interesting process. The idea is that it?s a means of boosting productivity, but it can also have benefits in energizing you and helping you really embrace the day. While Herbert posits that the Power Hour is a first-thing-in-the-morning experience, you can certainly try to identify a different time that seems to work copacetically with your brain and schedule. Basically, you eliminate the time that you have other responsibilities in the way?you can?t really tune out the world and work when you need to be participating in a meeting?and try to lock down on the times you feel most engaged. Once you identify yours, you can then do a few things to make the most of it. How to Make the Most of Your Power Hour Pick Your Task In order to make the most of the time you?re establishing as your Power Hour, you should pick a single task to devote all of your attention to. Try focusing on the kind of task you would generally try to put off?completing it might give you a bit of extra motivation to tackle your other tasks with renewed vigor.  Cut Out Distractions Put your phone on silent, turn off your notifications, and set yourself as unavailable on your calendar. The concept of a Power Hour only works if interruptions aren?t an issue. Focus Up On a related note, do everything you are able to do to prepare yourself mentally for this extended focus session. Run through a quick mindfulness exercise, find a quiet corner if it?s open to you, and take a few deep breaths. There will be time enough to deal with other things on the other end of your Power Hour. Hopefully, trying this strategy or some of its elements will help you get more done. We?re always here to ensure that your technology is prepared to support you during these times, too. Find out more about our managed IT services and support options by giving us a call at (603) 889-0800.