Protecting Internet Accounts

Security experts say passwords for more than 2 million Facebook, Google and other accounts have been compromised and circulated online. When a malicious hacker gets a password to one account, it’s often a stepping stone to a more serious breach, especially because many people use the same passwords on multiple accounts. So if someone breaks into your Facebook account, that person might try the same password on your banking or Amazon account. Suddenly, it’s not just about fake messages being posted to your social media accounts. It’s about your hard-earned money. So do not use the same passwords for email, banks, and internet phone services. Another thing you can do to protect yourself is to make the passwords long and use a combination of letters and symbols while avoiding words that are in the dictionary. Lastly, it is important to change the password regularly.

Technology These Days

We don’t yet know what, if any, the implications will be for a generation coming of age in a digital era, and the question fills even the most tech-savvy among us with a mixture of wonder and trepidation. I grew up knowing what it was like not to be in front of a glowing screen and not being able to get online. Or in the process of getting online, there were all kinds of beeps and whirrs that resulted in not being able to use the land line. These days most people do not even have a home phone because cell phones and other internet phone services have replaced the need for a land line. It is true the pervasiveness of technology is shaping us, whether or not we like it — but perhaps it is also true that comparing the future with an outdated past is not going to beget any reliable answers anytime soon. Do you feel that technology has shaped your life in a negative or positive way? It is something that we cannot live without nor avoid in our lives. Socrates once railed on and on about how writing is going to ruin humanity because people will not need to remember things if they simply write them down. Clearly, there is more to the written word than he thought.

Time Savers

When you opened that new smartphone and smelled the sweet smell of the amazing phone services, did you ever once think about opening the instructions to find out how to use it? I thought so. The most amazing technological advances for everyday life would never see the light of day if the interface needed instructions. You only have to accidentally hit the space bar once to notice the webpage you are reading then scrolls down. We really do not need a 30-second voicemail prompt to tell us how to leave a message. Regardless of what industry you're in or what product of service you are selling, the key to success is connecting your brand with your customers. Every point of contact must be choreographed. Your customers must feel that you understand the way they think. So, any thoughts on these time saving technologies?

Going to Work Sick

Admit it, how many times a year do you go to work sick when you know you should have stayed home simply because you know that you cannot miss a day or getting that day's pay? The average adult gets a cold about two or three times a year, with each one lasting up to a week, or sometimes longer. Even though it can be tempting to go to work while you're sick, there are many reasons why you are better off staying home. First of all, you will get other people sick and they will not be entirely grateful for that present. Secondly, pushing yourself and working too much in the early stages of illness may actually prolong your recovery time. Studies have shown that lack of sleep can weaken your immune system and make you more susceptible to colds. If you must show up to work, disinfect touched objects such as phones systems, doorknobs, and computer keyboards, and consider avoiding sharing items such as pens.

Switching to Android

With all the hype going on since the release of the new iPhone, have you ever considered switch to something different, something unknown? You can read all you want about the different OS but without the test drive, you will not know for sure. One of the things that I liked about Android are the widgets. With Android, you can have a real-time weather or sports widget right on your home screen in any number of sizes. Another great thing is the Google integration because we all use Google for so many activities. Finally, the phone services are not that hard to master even though the wealth of menus and options. After five years of iPhone ownership, the gestures I use to control the device are deeply ingrained. The swipes, the pinches, the long taps – it’s all second nature and not something I wanted to relearn. Thankfully, Android and iOS share most common gestures and commands.

Relax This Weekend

As we approach the long weekend, it might be a good idea to take the time to relax. We ALL need to step back now and then and take a breather. It's impossible to go full speed all the time. One of the things that you can do is put all those emails and internet fax on hold. Being able to relax and recharge is important for maintaining health, energy and focus. Stress affects each of us in different ways, and none of them are beneficial to our health. Stress can weaken your immune system and cause uncomfortable physical symptoms like headaches and stomach problems, as well as insomnia and irritability. While the link between stress and heart disease is still unclear, studies have suggested that chronic stress that causes an increase in heart rate and blood pressure may damage the artery walls. Some other things that you can do is call up an old friend and have a couple laughs. Try to get six to eight hours of sleep each night. Use "to do" lists to help you focus on your most important tasks. Approach big tasks one step at a time. For example, start by organizing just one part of your life -- your car, desk, kitchen, closet, cupboard or drawer.

Gen Y and Tech Security

Are you concerned about your teenager sharing too much information on his or her smartphone? A new poll from the Pew Internet & American Life Project suggests that while there is some room for improvement, American teens are finally starting to understand the privacy risks associated with downloading smartphone mobile applications. It seems that finally something is clicking with this younger generation. It is important to remember just how sensitive private information is in the digital age. There are numerous ways that people can mine private information in order to gain access to different accounts and scam people. Interestingly enough, when it comes to location tracking, there’s a massive gender gap: 59% of girls have turned off the feature either for an individual app or for their entire phone. Only 37% of boys reported that they disabled tracking in the same manner. How do you feel about location tracking and mobile privacy?

Getting Published

Most people that write articles do not necessarily call themselves writers. But if you are wondering how to get published, here are some pointers. First of all pick a site or publication that you tend to read a lot because the bigger of an expert you are on the material, the greater your chances of getting published there. Secondly, make sure that you read their rules. This is one of the most important things that you could do because you should not let something like misreading or not following rules keep you from sharing those great ideas of yours. Don't submit work that's similar to the obscure parts of a website. In the beginning you want to aim right for the sweet spot. Your value to a publisher is giving them what they already have, but more, with a minimum amount of work on their end to conform your stuff to what their readers expect. Next, networking can really help your writing career, no matter if it is over social media or other communication services. Lastly, get ready for rejection, and apply it! If your work is being judged by editors, there's a good chance they're more experienced than you and have proper insight into the merits and flaws of your work.

Introverts: Not So Bad

Our society has praised the people that are loud and out there; the people that actually want to strike up a conversation with a total stranger. As for the introverts, they just get a bad rap. If someone decides to level a store with their car, most of the people start talking about that person as if they cannot believe that it happened or point to the fact that he or she was a total loner and did not interact with other people so "obviously they were a ticking time bomb." That unknown factor freaks us out, and in not knowing the personality quirks of an introvert, we assume that it must be bad, just to be on the safe side. People seem to think that because we're not out at the club or taking part in the neighborhood meetings or using the wonderful IP telephony to chitchat with everyone, we're sitting at home, alone in the dark, softly crying, wishing that someone--anyone--would rescue us from the loneliness. I'm not talking about people who are introverts against their will. I'm talking about the millions of us out there who are introverts because we simply prefer our nice, quiet houses over the jaw-clinching idiocy of public functions.

RingCentral Features

One of the biggest clients that AB Soft has is RingCentral, but I am sure that you know already. They recently rolled out with a new user interface, business SMS, and conferencing. With AB Soft doing all the CMS development, it is no surprise that the new interface is so improved and a mile above the rest. Streamlined, sped up and optimized for mobile devices, the latest version of the RingCentral web interface makes it easy for you to manage all of your business communications in one place. RingCentral is also the first phone service company to offer business texting. In the mobile world, texting your business partner was not too far away. Business SMS gives you another channel with which you can communicate. Conferencing, included on all Office plans in the US, provides every user with a unique conference bridge number. With our latest iOS and Android apps, it’s even possible to create conferences on the go, then invite attendees via email or text message.

Switching to Internet Phone Services

After doing the research on whether to get an internet phone service and which one will best fit your business, you have finally decided that now is the time to switch and start enjoying all the benefits the VoIP has to offer. One of the first things that you need to do is to make sure that your bandwidth is large enough to accommodate the phones lines. A fast internet means that the calls will be of a better quality. Another aspect to consider is making sure that you have great routers in order to reduce the number of dropped calls. For small businesses, switching to VoIP means getting rid of phone maintenance entirely since the vendor now handles that. One drawback to using VoIP is that if the system fails, or Internet connections are lost, all phones in your business go dead. One way to plan for and overcome this scenario is through the use of failover switches, aka Fallback, Lineback, and A/B Fallback switches, some of which can be controlled via TCP/IP and all work via automated triggers. Happy switching!

Mastering Your Mood

Did you ever notice that when someone says hello and asks how you are doing, they are saying this as they are walking away? This is done so much that we never give a second though before answering, "Good, how are you?" as we ourselves are walking away and going about our business. Has anyone every actually said anything besides that when you ask? It would certainly be a bit awkward. We have come to a point where you can tell your mood to an app or some communication device more easily than to a person. Go figure. Many people are using these tools to tracks mood changes and triggers in order to take more control over their lives and wellbeing. Not only does recording data help doctors and patients to better understand why symptoms occur when they do, the information can also reveal relatively quickly whether treatments— including drugs and therapy— are working. How useful such mood apps turn out to be in mental health therapy won’t be clear until more patients try them, and more studies are done on how they affect mood and can be integrated into treatment. On the other hand, how much of our information should a program know and how is it used?

Internet: There are Positive Aspects

The internet has definitely brought us some wonderful things and some no so great things. In addition to the havoc that viruses can wreak and the way that internet phones have revolutionized communication, there are definitely some great things that came about from the internet. One of those things is that it has made knowledge and being an expert in something, no matter how weird, pretty cool.  We've fallen in love with knowledge, and that's almost exclusively a product of how you use the Internet. You hunt for novelty, relentlessly, and do not try to deny it. Another great thing that came from this beautiful thing we call the internet, is acts of kindness. This whole system works because there's an unspoken expectation online that you make some effort to do good, and while sometimes people get confused about where to focus that good intention, the fact that everyone is so eager to help at all is heartening.

The Beginning of Long Distance Communication

In telecommunication we have internet phone services and video conferencing. There are also mobile application developments for the different VoIP systems as well as CMS development. But it all really started somewhere with just a simple, "Can you hear me now? ....Good!" Here is an article from CNN about it:

Bell was a professor and an amateur inventor, with little taste for business: his expertise and his day job was teaching the deaf. His main investor and the president of the Bell Company was Gardiner Green Hubbard, a patent attorney and prominent critic of the telegraph monopoly Western Union. It is Hubbard who was responsible for Bell's most valuable asset: its telephone patent, filed even before Bell had a working prototype. Besides Hubbard, the company had one employee, Bell's assistant, Thomas Watson. That was it.If the banquet revealed Bell on the cusp of monopoly, here is the opposite extreme from which it began: a stirring image of Bell and Watson toiling in their small attic laboratory. It is here that the Cycle begins: in a lonely room where one or two men are trying to solve a concrete problem. So many revolutionary innovations start small, with outsiders, amateurs, and idealists in attics or garages. This motif of Bell and Watson alone will reappear throughout this account, at the origins of radio, television, the personal computer, cable, and companies like Google and Apple. The importance of these moments makes it critical to understand the stories of lone inventors.

Useful Applications

Does it sometimes feel like mobile application development is rolling out with more games than anything else a bit more useful? Well here is an app that may become indispensable. If your children are old enough to carry smartphones, you don't need to give them separate GPS devices. Simply make sure they install Life360 Family Locator on their iPhones or Android handsets and then you can use the app to track them on your phone. Life360's simple, colorful interface puts icons for all of your family members onto a map and also shows you other key places around them, including hospitals, police stations and the homes of registered sex offenders. Best of all, LifeCam360's app and core service are free, though you may pay extra for premium features such as tracking a non-smartphone.

IP Telephony: Have Security

When it comes to protecting your computer from malware, one of the most important things you need to understand is what exactly the virus looks like and what it can do. The first thing to keep in mind is that no one is immune to the malware, even if some information is stored on a cloud service and another service such as internet fax or even game data. One of the ways that hackers are able to get in is by making sites look legit. This has been done to the degree of the actual real site does not even know that it has been compromised. Getting an anti-virus program is only the first step that you should take. Something else that you should always be aware of is that all the software has to be up to date because the older version might have holes that the hackers can use to get in. Also it is important not to click on advertisement links on sites, but rather to go to the site yourself. Do you guys have anymore advise?

File Sharing

Big changes lay ahead for the way we conduct business as we know it. Most of these changes are already well underway. No longer is the workday confined to the traditional nine-to-five structure — mobility allows employees to work from anywhere, anytime and, increasingly, on any device. The proliferation of tablets and smartphones in the corporate environment (according to a study from Juniper Research, by 2014, the number of employee-owned smartphones and tablets used in the enterprise will more than double to 350 million) does come with certain security risks. Currently, 70 percent of smartphone-owning professionals use their personal devices to access corporate data, but 80 percent of these devices are not adequately managed by IT departments. The sharing of information has been an integral aspect of thriving societies since, well, the beginning of time. For many regulated industries, tracking which mobile devices are accessing the network is critical. Many organizations choose a Mobile File Management (MFM) solution that integrates with Active Directory to ensure only authorized employees are allowed to access files on the corporate network. AB Soft will be able to implement the type of business application development that ensure security and control over data and other information. Another great offer that they have is the quality assurance where they make sure that the applications are working properly and have all the necessary support.

So Much More

AB Soft is a lot more than just a software development company. It is even more than a CMS development or mobile application development. They offer the digital backbone to all your business needs and are about to grow with your business on an international scale. Going with the company is one of the best investments that you could do for your business. It will add value and increase return which means that the internet products that you will be getting will be paying for themselves over time because they are so cost efficient. One of the best things about internet phones is that you can use the existing telephones or even you computers to make calls. This is a great feature, and can do a lot more than make/take calls from your desktop. A softphone is a software application that replicates the desk phone interface on the PC. AB Soft can do any type of application development that you will need in your business.