Hi Everyone! We have moved our photo collection to Instagram. Head on over there to check it out! Also stop by and like our Facebook page while you’re out on the social media highway. Links below…
With thunderstorm and brownout season starting it may be a good idea to get your old surge protectors replaced. After awhile they do wear out and no longer function properly. They should be replaced about every two years. Sooner if you live in an area with more frequent power issues. Take a look at the article below for more info on the reasons for getting them replaced.
Heard some folks taking about how Samsung hasn’t released a new watch in awhile so I thought I would look into it. While other wearable manufacturers are following closer to the ridiculous cellphone market (releasing a new model every year) Samsung is waiting to release the new Gear. Knowing them they are going to wait for the perfect time to release it, before the holiday season, and spend this time perfecting it. The article linked below has some info on the new watch!
https://www.wareable.com/smartwatches/samsung-gear-s4-price-specs-release-date-features-3228
Apple is finally making the pencil compatible with the new 9.7″ iPad. You no longer need to pay up for an iPad Pro just to use the awesome Apple Pencil and it’s features. Check out the official Apple page below!
With the amount of data people share on Facebook it doesn’t surprise me that something like this would happen. Many companies would like to get their hands on Facebook data. Link below to the Fox News story.
These days Solid State drives are the new hit in computers. Yes, they do not have as much space as traditional hard drives and they are expensive comparably, but all of that is made up for with speed. They are fast. A properly configured computer with a solid state drive, or SSD, can boot up in seconds. Usually a SSD is 256GB to 512GB with more expensive ones being around the 1000GB (1TB). Samsung has just announced a 30TB SSD! That’s ~30,000+ GB! Needless to say this is going to be expensive. Very expensive. I think I may wait awhile before looking into one of these since it is going to be the price of a new car. Check out the CNet article for more info.
A little known fact about the most popular messaging app in use today is the very accurate Geo Locating system that is built in. Inside Snapchat there is a feature called Snap Map. This allows you to Geo Locate your friends. Sometimes down to their exact location. This may be fun for teenagers looking to see where their friends are in the city, but can also be on the creepy side for your other Snapchat followers to see where you are at any time you are in the app. In the article linked below there is some information on enabling an option in Snapchat called Ghost Mode. This disables the Snap Map Geo Location feature. I recommend this be turned on for any Snapchat user. I also recommend checking the settings menus on any app you download. You never know what privacy intruding options are hiding in apps now that someone may consider fun.
If you need any assistance with Snapchat or in strengthening your online privacy send us an email to schedule an appointment!
Once again, another reason to keep your devices fully updated has come across the KES Tech Services desk. This type of exploit has been around for a while, but seems to pop back up every now & again. It usually targets folks with outdated operating systems and older devices. “BlueBorne” is a way for a hacker can access your device, network, personal information, etc through your enabled Bluetooth connection. The news article below basically explains the exploit and ways to protect yourself from it. Two quick things would definitely be turning off bluetooth when it’s not in use and making sure your device is updated. If you have any questions, concerns, or need assistance with updates please reach out to KES Tech Services anytime!
For those of you that are unfamiliar with ransomware it is a type of malware that takes over your computer. It usually encrypts your hard drive and requires you to pay to have it restored, which usually never happens after you pay, and you are left with a mostly unusable computer.
Last week a new ransomware virus called Bad Rabbit was discovered in western Asia. It seems to have spread to eastern Europe before it was discovered. According to news articles, cyber security experts claim that it has been stopped.
The big thing with these ransomware viruses is that usually you need to let them into your computer. You basically click on something infected to get it. Bad Rabbit has been seen to disguise itself as a fake Adobe Flash update. If you ever see a pop up for a flash update it is best to go to Adobe.com. There you can check to see if you actually need an update and get update directly from them.
The big takeaways are make sure you have good quality antivirus software that is up to date and your computer is fully updated. Also, there are so many pop ups out there these days. They can be very annoying. Before you hastily click anywhere on a pop up to close it check it over first. You can always close your browser and reopen it if you are unsure about clicking a popup. Even the “X” to close it can be compromised. As always contact KES Tech Services if you have any questions or concerns!
With Apple’s release of their new iOS scheduled today the new OSX release is just around the corner. On Sept 25th the new Apple OSX named High Sierra is scheduled for release. From what I’ve seen is looks like this update is tailored to performance improvements. From graphics to file system management. Some of these improvements are being put in place for the expansion of the Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality (VR/AR) craze that is going on through the tech world. A lot of that is also seen in the phone/mobile market these days with many VR/AR apps popping up all over the place.
One important tip is to make sure you take a backup of your computer or phone before upgrading just in case something goes wrong. This is technology we are talking about after all…
As always if you need any help with backups, installs, upgrades, etc please email KES Tech Services to schedule an appointment!
The link to the official Apple High Sierra page is below.