Neat stuff coming this fall!

We’ve gotten previews of new Lenovo products coming in Fall 2012: Coming in August is the updated X1 Carbon. Small, light, thin, fast ultra-portable notebook computer with 3G “internet anywhere” connection…with a standard 14 inch screen. http://blog.lenovo.com/products/lenovo-reveals-thinkpad-x1-carbon-shakes-up-ultrabook-market According to TechCrunch, “If there ever was a true Macbook Air competitor…it’s the X1 Carbon.” http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/15/the-x1-carbon-shows-lenovo-can-think-different/ We expect the Lenovo [...]

Wake up, Mac users…

Seriously, folks. Mac OS makes many of the same security/ease of use compromises as Windows. I’ve been reading with interest the recent reports of malware activity involving Mac OS computers. A couple “must read” pages include the Mac Virus blog,  the ESET Threat blog,  and Kaspersky’s SecureList blog. Some of these pages get into deep technical [...]

Yet Another Data Breach: Credit Card Processor Warns of Compromise

Over the weekend multiple sources announced a compromise of Global Payments Inc that led to the unauthorized release of at least 1.5 million credit card records. According to the reports the hacked data includes credit card Track 1 and Track 2 swipe details, which is everything needed to make a counterfiet card. What to do? [...]

How did THAT get on my computer? (Part 1)

We hear variations of this all day: “I don’t even know what that program is.” “I’ve never seen that before.” “No, I don’t get daily deals.” “Is that megawickedspywarecleaner any good?” And finally, “I only go to work-related sites. I run antivirus. How does this crap get on my computer?” Answer #1. You “asked” for [...]

Vote for Greg Charland in the SMB 150

The SMB 150 is a list of the top influencers in small business technology. I’ve been nominated for the 2012 list! Please consider visiting my SMB 150 page and voting! You don’t need to be an IT expert (or a business owner) to vote, and it only takes a few seconds! Why am I worthy of [...]

Major flaw in Remote Desktop Protocol

If you’re a typical business owner or computer user, and you have one of these icons on your systems, we need to talk: New info shows that computers “listening” for Remote Desktop Connection are more of a security risk than previously thought. Now, it’s still reasonably secure to use Remote Desktop within your own network [...]

Apple’s Abdication and the Imminent Death of OSX.

After all the time, money, and momentum put into years of “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” ads, Apple CEO Tim Cook gave nothing short of a concession speech on Wednesday. Cook’s comments (wrapped around his iPad introduction) are an acknowledgement that Apple has all but given up on servers…and desktops….and soon notebooks. Interesting counterpoint to my recent post on the [...]

Quick take: Haptic Screen tech, pre-Apple annoucement

Apple will be announcing their next iPad tablet device in about 30 minutes. This morning I found an article about something that’s really, really cool. I don’t expect this to be on THIS iPad but look for these around the end of 2012: “Haptic” touch screens. Touch-screens that can provide tactile feedback, using electrostatic screens [...]

The Myth of the “Post-PC World”

For more than a decade pundits and vendors have been proclaiming “the death of the PC.” And suggesting that there’s no reason anyone could possibly want or need a desktop or notebook computer in this day and age. In fact, there’s also a 2006 article claiming that the Symbian phone would “kill off” the desktop computer. [...]

Quick Review: Object File Zip

During a recent server migration, a big, .ZIP’d backup file wouldn’t open in Windows Explorer. After some searching I found Object File Zip, a freeware program from Essential Data Tools, that claims to recover damaged zip files. I downloaded it, malware tested it, and everything looked clean. I installed it on one of my test [...]