Have You Recently Left Corporate Life?
What You Need to Know
- Have you recently left corporate life either by choice or the result of downsizing?
- Do you have the right tools for your job search?
- Do you have the most cost effective system for your home office?
- Are you an effective “Road Warrior?” Does your technology support your mobile needs?
- Since you no longer have a support desk, do you have someone to help you with maintenance issues?
- What about security issues, backup, and a disaster plan?
Setting up a Home Office
- Equipment selection
- Software
- Services
- Maintenance and security
On the Road – Mobile Needs
- Laptops
- Internet access
- Smartphones and tablets
- Minimizing communication costs
- Online services (cloud computing)
- Maintenance and security
Need help making the right decisions regarding your tech requirements for home and on the road? Contact me either by phone 917 921-4518 or by e-mail at jblue@bluetutor.com for a free consultation.
How To Use Your Smartphone When You Are Offline
Ever wonder how you can use your smartphone without an Internet connection? Being offline doesn’t mean you can’t watch a movie, listen to your music, read a book, and keep up to date with your favorite podcasts. Many airlines now offer wi-fi, however don’t rely on it to stream since, in most cases, the signal is not as great as what you are used to at home.
To learn more on what you should be doing, prior to your trip, when connected to the Internet (preferably wi-fi), click HERE to access a video with some great tips.
Also, you should be traveling with two sets of earphones (in case your main one breaks), a charging cable, and a preferably a portable battery pack.
How to Select the Right Cellphone Provider
Confused by all the offers from the major cell phone providers (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc.)?
There’s a price war going on between the major carriers. Although price is a consideration in selecting a carrier, saving a few dollars should not be the major factor when signing a contract. Having an unlimited or discounted data or phone plan is useless if your service is poor.
First, you must determine which provider offers the best service in your area. Are you frequently getting disconnected in the middle of a call? How is the voice quality of the calls?
Second, you should check the signal strength in all parts of your home or office. If you are a frequent traveler, how is the service on the road? How about your second home? If you are moving to a new location, check with your neighbors. Find out what works for them and which provider (s) have poor reception. I have a client who recently moved a few blocks away and found the provider she was using in her old apartment did not work in her new building. Another client found that her provider only worked in a few rooms in her new building.
There are a number of discounted service providers offering deep discounted rates. However, the majority of them are using one of the major providers listed above. If you elect to go that route, check out who they are using before signing up.
Don’t be tempted to sign up with a provider because of a great deal or a pretty new phone offer. The name of the game is quality of service.
Thought You Could Only Have One Phone Number on Your Smartphone?
Now you can have a FREE second phone number on your smartphone.
No need to carry two mobile phones with you, one for business and the other for personal use.
Sideline is the FREE phone solution for anyone who needs a second phone line. The idea is that your smartphone is your personal phone, and you don’t necessarily want to use that as your business phone. That’s why you still see people carrying around two phones, which is a hassle to say the least.
Your second number works just like your first. Separate caller IDs, notifications, and ringtones make it clear who’s contacting you. For outbound communication, just open Sideline. With your free phone number, you get unlimited texting, and Sideline calling uses the carrier plan you already have.
Sideline is available on both iPhones and Android smartphones.
CLICK HERE to read more about Sideline and instructions on how to install the app on your phone.
Thought Your Mobile Calls Were Safe?
German researchers discover a flaw that could let anyone listen to your cell calls
As reported in today’s Washington Post, German researchers have discovered security flaws that could let hackers, spies and criminals listen to private phone calls and intercept text messages on a potentially massive scale – even when cellular networks are using the most advanced encryption now available.
The article reports the problem, but offers no solutions. Anyone have any ideas?
To read the full article, click on the link below.
All Cell Phone Carriers Are Not Created Equal
Confused by all the offers from the major cell phone providers (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc.)?
There’s a price war going on between the major carriers. Although price is a consideration in selecting a carrier, saving a few dollars should not be the major factor when signing a contract. Having an unlimited or discounted data or phone plan is useless if your service is poor.
First, you must determine which provider offers the best service in your area. Are you frequently getting disconnected in the middle of a call? How is the voice quality of the calls?
Second, you should check the signal strength in all parts of your home or office. If you are a frequent traveler, how is the service on the road? How about your second home? If you are moving to a new location, check with your neighbors. Find out what works for them and which provider (s) have poor reception. I have a client who recently moved a few blocks away and found the provider she was using in her old apartment did not work in her new building. Another client found that her provider only worked in a few rooms in her new building.
There are a number of discounted service providers offering deep discounted rates. However, the majority of them are using one of the major providers listed above. If you elect to go that route, check out who they are using before signing up.
Don’t be tempted to sign up with a provider because of a great deal or a pretty new phone offer. The name of the game is quality of service.
Starbucks Ups the Stakes in Battle Over Wireless Charging
Now you can give your phone a caffeine fix along with your latte. Not ready for prime-time yet, but definitely a great idea.
Starbucks Ups the Stakes in Battle Over Wireless Charging – Ina Fried – Mobile – AllThingsD.
Biggest problem facing mobile phone users – – – – your battery running out of juice.
What do you do to increase your battery life?
What’s New At Apple?
Do you have either an iPhone or iPad? Once the dominant resource for smartphones and tablets, Apple is now facing stiff competition from Microsoft, Samsung, Google, and other resources which has impacted Apple’s market share in both the smartphone and tablet markets.
This week, Apple unveiled a revamped version of its mobile operating system iOS 7. scheduled for a Fall release.
Other features of the the new operating system include a “lot smarter” and voice makeover for Siri, new photo sharing options, and automatic updates of your apps.
Also previewed was iTunes Radio, which is built right into the Music app in iOS 7 for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, as well as iTunes on the Mac and PC and Apple TV.
Will these enhancements impact your decision to stay with your Apple products?
5 G-Mail Features of Interest
Whether you’re sorting through hundreds of work emails a day or using the service to keep in touch with friends and family, keeping up to date on its latest features can help you get the most out of it.
If you are not g-mail user, you might want to consider switching or setting up a second e-mail account to separate your personal and business correspondence.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, click below
via Yahoo and PCWorld
Why you should consider the Cloud based version of Microsoft Office
Want to use Microsoft Office on the Road?
Are you spending more time out of your home or office? Would you like to be able to work on your documents from your mobile devices?
BY EDWARD MENDELSON. “The title above says Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium$94.99 at SoftwareSpeedy, which is Microsoft’s name for one of its many varieties of Office 2013—the subscription-based variety that you download from the cloud and use on your disk in exactly the same way youve used earlier versions of Office. The difference is that the new Office is designed to make it as easy to store documents in the cloud as it is on your disk, and Microsoft is pushing the idea that with Office 365, you can now edit Office documents anywhere—on any Windows-based desktop or tablet, on a Windows phone, in a Web browser, and even on your Mac, because your Office 365 subscription lets you have Office installed on five devices at any one time. This means you get Office 2013 on your Windows machines and Office 2011 for the Mac on your OS X machines. Office 2013 is an impressive upgrade to the worlds most powerful office application suite, with new features so smoothly built in that it requires almost no new learning or training. Office 365 is the best argument Ive seen for moving documents into the cloud without any compromise in features and flexibility compared to desktop-only applications”.
via Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium Review & Rating | PCMag.com.