google takes on cell phones

Next week, there's a big press conference, perhaps for the unveiling of a new phone by Google. Here's the story:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/is-googles-nexus-one-phone-to-land-next-week/?em

ready for a new laptop? dell vs. hewlett-packard

If you think Hewlett-Packard is the computer source for laptops, think again. At least, that's what Dell is hoping as they release a new laptop for business professionals: The Latitude Z. Read this article for more info: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/1005/outfront-technology-computers-dell-new-laptop.html

By the way, you can order Dell computers directly from Groff NetWorks. For more information, call: 518-320-8906.

Attention Business Owners and Decision Makers: Leveraging your IT in a downturn economy

There is a great (and brief! about 13 minutes!) podcast up at Harvard Business School's website right now. It's an interview with Ann Livermore, executive vice president, Technology Solutions Group, Hewlett-Packard. She talks about aligning your business strategy with your IT planning.

In the interview she underscores the importance of investing in IT to create more efficiencies in your business. Studies from the previous recession showed that 40% of all companies in the top quartile lost their leadership position during the recession. She goes on to say that how a business approaches the leveraging of their IT can affect potential losses in a major way.

Just another piece of evidence illustrating that:

1. Technology is not going away.
2. In fact, it's only going to become more vital to running your business.
3. You need to align your IT growth with your strategic business growth. Their successes are not mutually exclusive.

Enter the My NetWorks managed service plans at Groff NetWorks. Our strategy is to become the driving force behind this alignment. We work with you, as your experts for IT management, to drive your IT growth in lock-step with your business strategy and daily operations.

Our approach to IT support services is different than any other managed serivce provider in the Capital Distrcit. Our clients receive the advice and guidance of a dedicated CIO, who works along side of your CEO to ensure the success of the tech/business marriage. We help you control your current IT capital expeditures and thoughtfully plan for the future of your business. How awesome is that?


Listen here! Really interesting subject matter, I promise.

Free "no-tricks-all-treats network assessment" ($397 value)

For the Halloween season, we’ve decided to give away FREE chocolate to any new clients who sign up for our 27-Point Problem Prevention Network Assessment in the month of October. This Assessment will “exorcise the demons” from your network and make sure:

- Your firewall settings are secure and protecting you from hacker invasion.

- The backup is working properly and your important company information is safe.

- Your files and programs are loading up as fast as they can be…plus 24 other critical check points.

Book your assessment before October 31 and receive a delicious solid chocolate witch FREE! Call (518) 320-8906.

Service Tip: You have a virus, scan now.

If you are surfing the Internet and get a pop-up that states, "You have a virus, scan now", X out the box. Do not click yes, and do not click no. Do not click anything inside the message box.

A number of clients have told us that they believed they were averting crisis by choosing "No" to the pop-up scan. In actuality, by clicking on any option in the message you are still installing the latest bane of your computer's existence, 'extortion'-ware.

Instead, click on the red X in the upper corner to completely close the pop-up, or better yet close the window by holding down your Ctrl key and F4 simultaneously. On a Mac hold down Command and the W key.

If you want to double check to make sure you don't have a virus, use your real anti-virus to do a scan.

What's a netbook and why, if at all, do you need one?

Netbooks, sometimes called tablet PCs, seem to be all the rage lately. Not completely sure why? Me either. Let's go over a super simplistic and watered down version of what they are, what they are not, and what they could be--and mostly likely will be, one day--if the universes align.

They Are:

• Small devices that appear to be laptops.
  
• Quite inexpensive, or can be with many running under $500.
• Cheap.
• Did I mention they cost less than some of the high-end iPods?
• The hip new gadget to give away as a prize or incentive.
  

They Are Not:

• A replacement for a laptop.
  
• A "real" laptop, don't be fooled.
  
• (very) Pretty.

They Could Be:

• Your ultimate on-the-go-multimedia connection. Think souped-down laptop, or souped-up phone.
  

I read an article on Slate.com a while back that really changed my view of these quirky and seeming useless little guys. The author made a good point about our needs when it comes to computing on-the-go. He argues that when we need to do work--real work--we usually sit down at a "real" laptop or computer, one with enough computing power to do the complex tasks like word processing, design, coding, etc. And when we're not doing work we're usually surfing the web or communicating via email, chat, facebook, etc. He calls this lightweight network computing, I call it leisure computing.


The good news is that there are a few specific requirements to create the ultimate leisure entertainment machine, and only a few. It needs to be portable and lightweight, so we can take it out wherever and surf/share at a moments notice. It needs to have wireless capability and run on a pervasive and low-cost network, i.e. the cellular network. And it needs to run on a zippy, efficient operating system (OS) that doesn't hog processing power.


In his words, "I'm suggesting that the thing we think of as a netbook should really be something else—a flat-panel, touch-screen tablet that can do photos, music, movies, e-mail, games, and full-function Web browsing. The device would include a small amount of onboard storage but would depend on the Internet cloud for most of its resources. Why no keyboard? Because then the device would be conceived as an appliance. You'd use it mainly for passive computing—for reading e-mail and Web pages, for looking at photos, for sharing documents in a meeting. You'd keep it on your lap to scan Facebook as you watch TV or bring it to bed to read the news before you go to sleep. You'd catch up on your e-mail as you ride the bus to work; you could respond to that e-mail using the on-screen keyboard, and when you get to the office, you could connect a USB keyboard."


Sounds pretty awesome and spot-on to me. So I'd suggest you think about this before running out to buy a netbook that's on a super sale deal. A laptop for $400 seems to good to be true, and unfortunately it probably is. Really think about what you'd use your netbook for, and then talk with someone who knows something about technology to make sure the device will actually perform in the manner you expect it to. I'm not saying that every netbook is inferior, rather that the "want" they are currently positioned to fill doesn't necessarily address our true needs from a stripped-down, super-portable computer.

But don't completely discount the netbook. Keep it tucked away in the recesses of your brain and wait until some more of the particulars above are addressed, specifically the ease-of-net-connectivity. This is key to any portable device. These mini-computers are on the right track and I'd bet you a fountain Coke that we'll see their reincarnates having a pretty important place in all of our lives.


Next stop, stream the content directly to our eyeballs. Just kidding (not really).

New iPhone OS 3.1 released

For all of you iPhone and iPod Touch users out there, Apple released a new OS yesterday, 3.1. The upgrade is available free for download for current iPhone users, and $4.95 for iPod Touch users (free when you purchase a new ipod Touch). Get it in the iTunes store.

New Features (via brightsideofnews.com):

• Overall much better synchronization and stability.
  
• Genius function to recommend apps, much like the current Genius Playlist function in iTunes. In a nutshell, Genius will recommend apps you might like to download, based on your current selection of downloaded apps.
• Download ring tones wirelessly.
• Better organization of your desktop and apps. Overall user interface improvements--truly one of Apple's greatest strengths.
  
• You can save video attachments into your CameraRoll from email and messages.
• Better Wi-Fi performance when Bluetooth is turned on.
• Remote lock your iPhone with a pass code using MobileMe.
• Voice control with Bluetooth headphones.
• Paste phone numbers directly into the keypad.