Google Apps Premium - 10 Compelling Reasons to Switch From Typical Email Hosting

1. Typical email hosting providers are often small shops who lack the redundancy of larger hosting providers. If you aren't with someone who is advertising in print magazines, you are probably with a small shop. The problem with relying on a small shop is that they lack the funding and technical expertise to keep their servers redundant, up-to-date, and secure. With Google Apps Premium, you get a 99.9% uptime SLA and that is backed by Google.

2. Antispam usually costs extra with typical email hosting providers. Sure, some will include some of the open source products that are available and they do some basic filtering, but with Google Apps Premium, you get Postini. One of the leading email security products available on the market and it's included at no additional cost.

3. Storage, storage, storage. Typical companies will give you only a small amount of storage space to hold your email. 1&1, at time of writing, gives only 2GB of mailbox space. A few years ago, that could have been considered a lot, but not anymore. The limits are constantly being hit and companies have to spend more money buying additional space. Google Apps Premium comes with 25GB of storage PER USER. This is far above 1&1 and 50% more than the industry average.

4. Google Apps Premium offers many additional features as well and this is where they really start to shine. With typical email hosting, you have your email, maybe a calendar, and contacts in your local email client. No one else can see this information, only you. With Google Apps Premium, you can directly integrate with Outlook to sync your mail, contacts, and calendar. You can share calendars and more.

5. Access from anywhere. Some email hosting providers offer web based access to your email, but none offer this same access to your email, contacts, calendar, documents, and more! When you use Outlook with Google Apps, the email, contacts, and calendar are all synchronized with Google and accessible by any web browser on any computer.

6. Google Docs, included with Premium Edition, offers a compelling alternative to Microsoft Office for small businesses. Users can collaborate and change the same document instead of having to email back and forth.

7. Resource scheduling is another great feature. You can reserve a conference room and everyone will see that it is in use. You can schedule meetings and invite other users in your company to attend.

8. Easily build a website with Google Sites. To see one in action, check http://www.AppsRM.com. This site was built using Google Sites in record time!

9. Built-in instant messaging. If you choose to enable for your company, you can instant message using Google Chat.

10. 24/7 customer support. Period.

If your company is currently using POP3 or IMAP with an email hosting provider, you simply must look into Google Apps Premium. The benefits are countless and they are ever-growing.

AppsRM is provided by LANRM Technologies. Visit our website, http://www.AppsRM.com to learn more about Google Apps and how your company can reduce costs and increase productivity through the use of Google Apps Premium!

Zachary Morvik is a technology expert who is a founding partner of LANRM Technologies, a leading computer support and managed services provider in the Greater Cincinnati area. Also one of the first companies in this area to provide Google Apps solutions to businesses.

Different Ways Height Data Can Be Used by Mapping Companies

Mapping companies continue to expand their resourcing software, applications, and programs to offer more up-to-date imagery and mapping. As they continue to expand, they continue to rely on current height data, also known as elevation data.

Mapping companies use many different techniques and datasets in order to gather accurate elevation data for mapping programs. The following are some ways mapping companies gather height data:

Land-Form Panorama Land-Form Profile High Resolution Satellite Imagery Linda Data Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Digital Photogrammetry

Once mapping companies gather elevation data, they are able to offer programs for government agencies, land surveying companies, and general consumers. Here are a number of ways height data is used today:

Land Surveying & Analysis: Elevation maps are very important for land surveying and analysis, including project planning, environmental services, and flood modeling to name a few. Elevation data is constantly used for disaster preparedness and city development.

Consumer Applications & Products: There are a number of products on the market that are valuable to consumers which use elevation data. GPS systems have become a new trend in on-the-go mapping, making directions easier to obtain and follow. There are also a number of phone applications which use elevation data, such as hiking and traveling applications available for the iPhone.

Virtual Travel: Height data allows the common person to view world landmarks from a click of the mouse. You can now view the Grand Canyon or Mount Everest in 3D without even leaving your house.

Flight Programs: The data is important for many flight programs, including collision avoidance systems, moving map displays, synthetic vision, and flight simulators, all of which help pilots maintain safety during flight.

Telecommunications: Height data continues to be used to analyze terrain in order to improve mobile communication networks.

These are just some ways that height data has allowed mapping companies to offer valuable resources for our everyday lives. Mapping companies continue to find new ways to use this data in order to develop new programs and software for more interactive and advanced mapping.

For more information on analyzing elevation data and applications, please visit http://www.intermap.com/.

Baby Heart Monitor

Baby heart monitors, also known as fetal heart monitors, are not often heard of but are actually a very handy tool in making sure your child is safe and healthy. There is no longer a need to wait for the prenatal appointment to check on your baby's heart rate as a baby heartbeat monitor isn't too expensive and can even be rented.  

Price aside, it can be used for many pregnancies to come, and is a good investment for the family if you are worried about your unborn child or are considering having more than one child.  

Having a baby heart monitor at home will be especially helpful for those who are having some complications in the pregnancy and can reduce the number of trips to the emergency room. Allowing a constant monitoring of the baby inside you can give you early warning in case there is a problem with the child and can quickly help prevent the problem from escalating before it is too late.  

Some of these baby heart rate monitor machines can even be used to record your child's heart beat on the computer for a wonderful keepsake for the later years. It is easy to use a baby heart monitor and with the many emerging technologies out there it is becoming simpler and simpler to listen to the heartbeat of your child and monitor his or her health even before birth.  

Not only does it give you peace of mind but it also strengthens the bond between child and family and creates a greater sense of anticipation for everyone in the family. 

For more information on this subject please review the following articles:

Baby Heart Monitor Information
Baby Heart Monitor Guide

Intelligent Chargers and Switch Mode Chargers: Making the Most Out of Your Battery

We have all heard the stories and seen the reports on the news (or watched the video on YouTube), someone leaves a battery in the charger for too long, and it overheats and then bursts into flames. Exploding batteries may be a rare occurrence, but not so rare that the manufacturer's advice should be ignored about how to charge your own battery type and how long you should leave it in the charger. Sometimes the simplest activity of charging a battery can be complicated by knowing exactly when to unplug the appliance from the charger. A better alternative for those who tend to forget such things is a smart charger that knows when to stop charging for both the safety and durability of the battery.

All battery chargers use some generated energy to transfer to the battery for storage. Once the battery has the maximum energy that it can hold, the energy being transferred will be turned into heat and released instead. The higher the heat, the more dangerous and damaging it can be. Overheating a battery can lead to its early failure and complete destruction.

Intelligent charging systems "integrate the control systems within the charger with the electronics within the battery to allow for finer control over the charging process" (Electropedia). To put it very simply: an intelligent charging system works with the battery itself to decide when optimal charging capacity has been reached and to shut the system down before damaging heat can be built up and harm the battery.

A switch mode charger "uses pulse width modulation to control the voltage. Low power dissipation over wide variations in input and battery voltage more efficient than linear regulators, but more complex" (Electropedia).

In most cases, the type of charger that is recommended or suggested will depend on the battery type, its function, and how expensive it is to buy. Obviously a top end, long life rechargeable battery should have the best type of charging system to extend its life for as long as possible. On the other hand, if a lower end battery is purchased because of the cost, it may be possible to wring more life out of it with a better charger, as long as it is suitable for the battery type.

Reference: Electropedia/ Battery and Energy Technologies/ Chargers and Charging. No author listed, no date. Retrieved from http://www.mpoweruk.com/chargers.htm on August 16, 2009

Eco20/20 is a cutting edge informational site. The primary focus of the site is clean energy. For almost two years Eco20/20 has been a leader in forward thinking articles.

http://www.eco20-20.com

PCI DSS For Beginners

The expression, PCI Compliance, means the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. This is a global directed program designed to protect the consumer from identity and financial information theft. If businesses are not a part of the program or do not comply with this standard, they could receive considerable fines or be banned from using payment card acceptance programs.

PCI DSS originated as five different security programs that consisted of Visa Card Information Security Program, MasterCard Site Data Protection, American Express Data Security Operating Policy, Discover Information and Compliance, and the JCB Data Security Program. The purpose was to build an additional layer of security by certifying the businesses that meet minimum levels of security when they process payment cards. In December of 2004, these companies merged their policies and created the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

The PCI DSS rules compel businesses that process debit and credit cards to carry out application reviews and install web application firewalls for the purpose of enhancing security. Once the business installs the security programs on their system they are accountable for ensuring that all the computer systems are protected and that they remain PCI compliant. As well, businesses must institute security policies such as not sharing passwords, not writing credit card numbers on paper, and safely disposing of transaction slips. These policies must be implemented before achieving PCI compliancy. PCI is frequently upgrading its systems' software and monitoring systems to deal with innovative hackers.

PCI compliancy impacts everyone who buys products with payment cards, or accepts payments with these cards. As of September 30, 2007, all businesses managing cardholder data have to be fully compliant with stringent security standards. PCI DSS provides two specific security rules to thwart breaches coming in from wireless networks. They monitor firewall segmentation between wireless networks and any network that may come in contact with financial information. The PCI DDS also carry out checks on the use of wireless analyzers to detect if there have been any unauthorized wireless devices used.

Completing the PCI compliance process can take one day or up to two weeks. It all depends on the threats found after a PCI scan and how long it takes to complete a self assessment questionnaire. The Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) is a document that businesses are required to complete every year and submit to their acquiring bank. It consists of a set of twelve security requirements sub-divided into 6 broader sections. Each section targets a specific area of security from the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). The questions range from having current virus protection and firewall installed to restricting access to the client information. The process of PCI compliance is not recommended to try to complete on your own. It is highly recommended that a business acquires the services of a Quality Security Assessor and/or an experienced IT person. The mandated requirements for PCI compliance varies from the size of a company, their level of technology, and the threats that develop.

Identity theft and fraud can be traumatic for victims, not only financially, but also emotionally. PCI, when implemented and enforced properly will help to reduce the risks.

As credit card fraud is increasing, businesses are becoming PCI compliant. By using PCI Hosting, it has helped many businesses save millions of dollars. Managed hosting offer services such as security, disaster recovery and much more. Visit us today!

Computing in a Third World Nation

9 years ago I had worked on many computers and worked with many programming languages.  When I left a prestigious company to go into the wilds of Africa, I wanted to help people that knew nothing of computers learn about them.  At the time I opened a computer training center in my garage.  I was using old 8086 desktop machines that were donated for the task.

To start, I had only four people interested in learning about computers.  They were so afraid of the computers that they did not want to touch them.  These "students" knew what about computers.  However they were afraid to break them and they knew that a computer cost more money than they would ever see in years. To overcome this fear I quickly opened up a computer on day and started to pull out the cards and pieces found in the computer.  I then handed each piece that I took out to the closest person to me and told him to pass it on.

As each piece went around I would explain what the part was and what it was use for.  The students did not know exactly what was being show to them.  Nor did they understand how it worked.  They were just amazed that they could hold it, touch it, and look at it in all of its pieces.

Over the next months each student started to understand and learn about a computer.  After about 3 months each was able to take a computer apart and put it together so it ran properly.  Then people started to come and see what we were doing.  More and more people wanted to learn.

From this experience I started to see some things about basic computing in this third world nation. 

1) Many people were influenced by the west.  Either it is good or bad they wanted everything western.  Computers were no exception.

2) The country as a whole did not have many educational programs to teach computers.  There was a great need for the training center.

3) There was such a desire to learn about computers because of the need of the people.  They needed a way to survive. 

4) There were so many job postings for people who understood the Microsoft products and how to repair a computer that is what I focused on. The people who completed the courses were able to find jobs almost immediately.

5) The people of the country had been told by officials that the future of the country was in using computers.  So everyone was looking for a quick and cheap way to learn computers.  Within a year of my arrival in country there was a computer training center on every street corner.  Not many teaching the skills needed since most of the centers where started by people with little or no knowledge.  But the people in the area did not know this.  They had nothing to gauge it by.

Some of the challenges we faced as we develop the training in a third world nation are:

No consistent power

Many times there wasn't any power.  It is hard to teach computers without power.  However we did many chalk board discussion.  We would the students visualize and the practice it when they were near a computer.

Too many people and not enough computers

My largest class was about 30 people for 10 computers in a small room.  We did a lot of buddy type work.  One person would use the computer while their buddy would stand behind them and watch.  When we did touch type training we would give everyone a keyboard without the computer (we were donated about 100 keyboards). One buddy would type while the other would see if they did it properly as the teach spoke the letter or number to type.

There is no such thing as Broadband

We started to offer internet training at one point.  As the world advanced into broadband and started developing websites with media content and major graphics the third world was left in the dust of progress.  Most websites have a hard time opening for a number of reasons.  Sites like Facebook and YouTube are a joke for internet users in a third world nation.  The best internet connection for those that can afford it is around 64kbps or less. Even the operating systems like Xp or Vista became more internet centric.  Your OS became out of date very quickly.  Many nations are trying to get caught up but it will take time and money, lots of money.

After several years I ended up with 2 computer training centers.  They were eventually all ran by locals that had passed all the courses I offered.  I didn't have to teach anymore they were teaching.  The teachers were teaching in their local language along with English.  This was fun seeing who they described a CPU to the students.  It worked well.  However many things in a computer or its use do not translate well to local languages.

Today the centers are not up and running.  My job duties have called me elsewhere.

We have had over 300 people complete the courses. 

Has been successful?  Absolutely.  I still run into previous students saying thanks for teaching the computers because they have a good paying job.  Some have even said that they knew the topic so well they had even taught people in their places of work.

Avoiding Spyware

The Internet has made many things easier and is a fabulous source of information. But, like anything else, bad guys abound there. These people want to watch what you do when online and can even log every key stroke you make on your keyboard. They use this information to sell your information to advertisers OR market their own products to you based on your search activities.

This is possible through the use of spyware. Spyware can be added to your machine without your knowledge. The best thing you can do is know how to avoid it altogether. Here are some tips on how to do exactly that.

1. Do not visit adult sites. These are the absolute worst places to visit online. Spyware abounds on these sites and can result in the loss of your computer.

2. Install a firewall and keep it running ALL THE TIME. Firewall software allows you to control all traffic in and out. Protects your machine from most threats on the Internet. If a piece of software DOES get through, it cannot be installed as the firewall will stop the installation process.

3. Install all Microsoft updates as they become available. Every system has "holes' that hackers can exploit. The updates that MS sends periodically closes those up and protects your computer.

4. Go get yourself some anti-spyware software. There are many available as freeware or shareware, downloads or CD installation. This software continuously updates it's database and knows what to look for. When a malicious piece of "junk" is detected, it is promptly eradicated.

5. Email is probably the second worst source of malicious spyware. Never open messages from strangers or addresses you are not familiar with. Attachments, especially, should NEVER be opened unless you know the sender.

6. If you download software for any reason, be sure you know and trust the source.

7. Avoid file sharing programs altogether. These programs became popular prior to the crackdown on illegal music downloads. Once you put the program on your computer, it opens a "back door" to your hard drive that hackers will have a field day with. All your information is accessible to whoever wants it.

8. Never, EVER under any circumstances, should you click on a pop up advertisement. These are those advertisements that just pop up when you visit certain sites. You have no idea where they come from, so don't trust them.

Avoiding malicious spyware and adware is as easy as being informed and "surfing smart". As consumers, we have to keep ourselves one step ahead of the hackers, virus writers, adware/spyware distributors and such. Using the Internet safely is really just a matter of being careful and not doing certain things.

Once a piece of malicious spyware makes it's way into your machine, it can be awfully hard to get rid of. In extreme cases, a complete reformat of the hard drive may be needed, possibly a restart of the OS (operating system). Sometimes, a spyware infestation can crash the entire computer.

Some spyware removal software is available that keeps your machine clean is available as well, but the best thing is to just avoid the problem before it IS a problem.

James Thompson is a contributor at the WebDefenders blog, providing advice on anti spyware removal and best spyware removal.