Posts Tagged ‘internet’
Description of ‘internet’ Tag:
Internet
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
 Hello and welcome to Chesapeake Digital Technology´s blog. We’re an information technology firm in Reisterstown, Maryland.. We provide several services, like SEO (Search Engine Optimization)and Technical Support to small and medium businesses.
In today’s business environment, everyone has a computer. In fact, many people have more than one. Personally, and take this for what you will since I’m a techie, I own two computers plus a ton of extra Internet enabled devices. As a result, there are certain things that one computer can do that the other cannot. Another thing is that files might be stored on a company computer that you don’t have at home, or vice versa. Because of this, there are situations in which you need to use another computer, but you might not have physical access to it. This is where Remote Desktop connections come into play.
RDC is a vital part of today’s IT world. There are a myriad of situations in which IT admins, and even certain employees, will need to access a computer without being there. If you are a national business, your corporate HQ might have people trained to work on your PCs rather than keeping IT staff at your location. Another common instance is telecommuting. Rather than supply you with a powerhouse machine and complex software, your company can let you use a simple PC and easy software to let you manipulate your work computer from home.
RDC is exactly what it sounds like. It opens up a connection to another computer’s desktop via remote software. This software is included in Windows and Mac OS X. By using RDC, you can get complete control of the system to which you are connecting. This means that you are using a completely unattached set of peripherals (keyboard, mouse, monitor) to use another machine. This allows for seamless access to these systems, thus making it possible for lots of work to be done. Given the push in the IT industry for virtualization of servers, RDC is clearly sticking around.
-Josh
Chesapeake Digital Technologies
Tags: business, Computer, internet, rdc, software, tech support
Posted in Business Tools | No Comments »
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
 Hello and welcome to Chesapeake Digital Technology´s blog. We’re an information technology firm in Reisterstown, Maryland.. We provide several services, like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Technical Support to small and medium businesses.
Sharing data around the office is crucial in today’s workplace. While sharing data has always been important, what’s changed is how we think of a workplace. In the past there might have been an office of 15 people working at a single location. Now there could be 25 people, only 5 of which share an actual physical space. The rest can be telecommuting, working on the road, etc. Sharing information now becomes much more complicated. Fortunately, there are services to help lighten the load.
Apple’s MobileMe Service
MobileMe works best when you have more that just documents to share. MobileMe provides for just over 10GB of online storage, as well as syncing of Dock shortcuts, Contacts, Calendars, and more. The only storage, called iDisk, can be mounted/mapped to your desktop so dragging/dropping of files is easily done. Once completed, devices like iPhones and iPads can access any file stored on the iDisk with a free app, provided the files are under 30MB. The service offers a free 60 day trial and after that is only $100/year. It comes with an email address at “me.com”.
Google Docs
Google Docs is a great, free way to enable collaboration online. You can store any type of file online (up to 1Gb free), upload and edit Office-style documents, and share both with friends and family. The real benefit here is the ability to edit workplace documents, like Word/Pages files, in real time with other people. This makes it great for people who have to collaborate on a project. You are notified who else is viewing a document, and the changes are viewed in real time. Google Docs requires a Google Account, which is free.
Microsoft Office Live
Office Live allows for users to store Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files online. You download a free update for your Microsoft Office products and then it allows you to save data to their servers (5GB free). The files can then be shared with others. While this service is free, it can only be access through newer version of Microsoft Office. While you likely have these programs already, you may want to consider purchasing the software as part of the price tag for this service.
That’s all for this week. Come back again next week for more small business tips!
-Josh
Chesapeake Digital Technologies
Tags: Apple, Cloud Computing, Google, internet, Microsoft, office, software, Web Based
Posted in Small Business Tips | 4 Comments »
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
 Hello and welcome to Chesapeake Digital Technology´s blog. We’re an information technology firm in Reisterstown, Maryland.. We provide several services, like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Technical Support to small and medium businesses.
No one will deny that a lot of business is done today on the go. The traditional 9 to 5 office day has been supplanted by a mobile workspace that may always be open. The web has made business something that is always on and not constrained by location. Because of this, Internet access is key to making your business work. There are two options for the small business owner looking to work while out on the road.
Use Your Smartphone as an Access Point
Given the capabilities of today’s smartphones, they are a powerful asset in your business toolkit. Aside from what you can do on the phone itself, some smartphones now allow you to “tether” your phone to your computer in order to use the phone’s internet connection. This is dependent on your provider. Recently, for all you iPhone users, AT&T announced tethering this summer. While this has been promised for a while, it looks like it might happen this time. It will cost approx $20/month on top of your current plan. This plan will work well in most places where you get 3G coverage. Just bear in mind, it will play off of your monthly data allowance. Unlimited Data plan members will be fine, but you’ll want to watch your bandwidth otherwise.
Buy a Cellular Data Access Point
Sprint has been pushing this option for a while. Essentially, you pay for a tiny device that acts as a router. Instead of using a cable, your device will pickup the wireless data signal and allow you to connect wireless devices to it. This option will most likely work best if you need to network multiple devices on the go. I don’t recommend relying on this as your sole Internet connection, especially as you will burn through your data allowance rather quickly. This is best for sharing data locally among devices and moderate Internet usage.
That’s all for this week. Come back again next week for more small business tips!
-Josh
Chesapeake Digital Technologies
Tags: access, business, data, internet, phone, Small Business, Smartphone, wireless, wireless broadband, work
Posted in Business Tools, Working Remotely | No Comments »
Thursday, May 13th, 2010
 Hello and welcome to Chesapeake Digital Technology´s blog. We’re an information technology firm in Finksburg, MD. We provide several services, like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Technical Supportto small and medium businesses.
An operating environment is the technical term for the technology in use at a specific location. That location can be as small as a business office or as large as a national company. When it comes to operating environments, just like milk, you want it homogeneous. What I mean by this is that you want technology that will play nice together so that you can get the most out of your money. Here are some ideas for keeping your network layout in sync.
Choose the same OS
Using the same operating system for all the computers on your network is a big part of having a network function well. While it is not absolutely required, it is something we recommend. This is because when you have a variety of computing environments, you have to have people who know all their ins and outs. For this reason, I recommend that all computers run the same OS, at least, if they are in the same network. You may need to create small networks for specific, older software, but on the whole, keep everyone on the same page.
Uniform Software Packages
In the same vein as keeping all operating systems in line, controlling what software is installed on work computers is vital to network health. Things like this can be managed via a server with administrative powers on a network. However, enforcing this becomes difficult if your computers are a mish-mash of operating systems. There are some exceptions for specialty software, but on the whole, employees should be using the same version of the same software. This cuts down on IT complaints as well as time taken to convert/modify files for use across multiple software bundles.
We could on for days about ways to keep your network in line. The best recommendation I can make is to plan out, in detail, your business’ needs and then go from there. It may be cheaper up front to go with what you can get easiest, but in the long run, you’ll be glad you’ve chosen to keep all your technology in line.
-Josh
Chesapeake Digital Technologies
Tags: Computers, digital, internet, network, operating system, Small Business, software, technology
Posted in Small Business Tips | No Comments »
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
 Hello and welcome to Chesapeake Digital Technology´s blog. We’re an information technology firm in Finksburg, MD. We provide several services, like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Technical Support to small and medium businesses. Today, I’d like to talk about CRM software, something all businesses these days need.
vTiger has to be one of the best free examples of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software I’ve used. I came across it when we were looking for a solid CRM solution for managing our clients. vTiger is free and offers a rather robust user interface. Here are some of the highlights of the software.
Client Support and Service
This functionality allow for creating trouble tickets and knowledge bases. The first, trouble tickets, are integral in tracking customer’s needs. Here, tickets are created that detail issues or thoughts the customer has and they can be assigned to a specific person or a group. The second, knowledge bases, allow for data collaboration among employees. This means that if customers are always experiencing similar problems, employees can look up the solution based on previous experience, rather than having to solve it on their own.
Inventory Management
This feature is rather self explanatory. However, it does not simply consist of listing all the items in an inventory list. This piece of the software not only allows you to manage products and services, but also lets you provide sales quotes, manage orders, and create invoices. All of this is done with one part of vTiger.
Customer Management
This is the biggest part of the software for some users. The creation of sales leads, current customer databases, etc is vital to any business. vTiger allows you to manage all of these with custom and pre-made data fields. Also, you can import from Excel files if your database exists in another format.
That’s all we have for this week. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.
-Josh
Chesapeake Digital Technologies
Tags: CRM, customer, Customer Relationship Management, internet, knowledge base, software, support
Posted in Business Tools, Customer Relationship Management | 2 Comments »
Friday, April 9th, 2010
 Hello and welcome to Chesapeake Digital Technology´s blog. We’re an information technology firm in Finksburg, MD. We provide several services, like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and technical support. This week, I’d like to talk about Google Docs.
Google is a household name these days. Everyone knows them and uses their services. Most people use their search engine, but not everyone knows about their online office suite of applications. Google Docs is their solution for the businessperson on the go. All you need is a computer and an internet connection.
The first benefit is that all your documents are stored online. You don’t have to keep anything with you. Literally nothing. You don’t even need a USB drive. They offer complete storage as well as a suite of tools to edit your documents. Spreadsheets, Text, and Presentations are all available in your browser and can be exported to Microsoft Office, Open Office, etc.
The second benefit is that you can share documents without the need for more technology. Whereas a company might have to buy a VPN to allow for sharing of documents online, Google Docs lets you list people with whom you’d like to share specific documents. All it takes is a Google account, which is free.
The third benefit, of many, is the cost. This is all offered for nothing. Google allows you to upload whatever files you want, edit Office documents as you please, and share them with others at no cost to you. Microsoft is planning on releasing a similar option in the near future, though details are a little sketchy at this point.
Well, that’s all for this week. Get out there and try out Google Docs!
-Josh
Chesapeake Digital Technologies
Tags: docs, documents, Google, Google docs, internet, office
Posted in Productivity | 1 Comment »
Friday, March 26th, 2010
Your blog is a great way to get your particular message out to folks around the world. Whether you are sharing business strategies or trading baseball cards, your blog can become a hub of activity. Naturally, there are people drawn to blogs to take advantage of the large amount of activity. These people come to your blog with an ulterior motive and are not interested in adding value, but instead try to promote unrelated commercial services with links to other websites, they are known as blog spammers. You can tell who they are because they do not usually add to the conversation, but rather promote their own or someone else’s website. Keeping these people off of your blog will go a long way towards building its legitimacy. Here are three ways to do that.
1) CAPTCHA Them.
First, please forgive the play on words. Okay, a CAPTCHA is a tool for many blogs and other sites which requires the user to enter the text they see in an image that looks slightly garbled of distorted. We’ve all seen them. CAPTCHA is used to prevent automated software from just scanning a website and filling in their information. This is a classic method for spammers. The best part of this is that implementation is free and has very little impact on the end user. It is readily available for WordPress blogs as an add-on called “SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam”. It’s free so go out and grab it if WordPress.com is powering your blog.
2) Papers Please
Another way to ensure that the comments left on your blog are legitimate is to require users to register themselves. This is an almost surefire way to make sure that comments left are legitimate. The biggest downside here is that many users may not wish to set up an account just to comment on a blog. Because of this, registration may be a better idea once your blog is established.
3) Everything in Moderation
The best way to make sure that no one posts something you don’t like is to require moderator approval of all comments. There are two sides to this. On one hand, you will absolute control over anything posted on your site. Nothing will get past you/whomever you place in charge of this duty. On the other hands, you are looking at an inordinate amount of time required to sift through a multitude of entries. Also, users may be less inclined to post if they feel they may be censored for no reason.
Well, that’s all for this week. We covered some basic steps for protecting your blog from spammers and unwanted ads. Check back next week for more!
-Josh and Sean
CDTek.com
Tags: Blog Hints, captcha, comments, internet, Marketing, seo, spammers
Posted in Blog | No Comments »
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Three Ways to Stop or Slow Spam on Your Business Blog
Friday, March 26th, 2010Your blog is a great way to get your particular message out to folks around the world. Whether you are sharing business strategies or trading baseball cards, your blog can become a hub of activity. Naturally, there are people drawn to blogs to take advantage of the large amount of activity. These people come to your blog with an ulterior motive and are not interested in adding value, but instead try to promote unrelated commercial services with links to other websites, they are known as blog spammers. You can tell who they are because they do not usually add to the conversation, but rather promote their own or someone else’s website. Keeping these people off of your blog will go a long way towards building its legitimacy. Here are three ways to do that.
1) CAPTCHA Them.
First, please forgive the play on words. Okay, a CAPTCHA is a tool for many blogs and other sites which requires the user to enter the text they see in an image that looks slightly garbled of distorted. We’ve all seen them. CAPTCHA is used to prevent automated software from just scanning a website and filling in their information. This is a classic method for spammers. The best part of this is that implementation is free and has very little impact on the end user. It is readily available for WordPress blogs as an add-on called “SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam”. It’s free so go out and grab it if WordPress.com is powering your blog.
2) Papers Please
Another way to ensure that the comments left on your blog are legitimate is to require users to register themselves. This is an almost surefire way to make sure that comments left are legitimate. The biggest downside here is that many users may not wish to set up an account just to comment on a blog. Because of this, registration may be a better idea once your blog is established.
3) Everything in Moderation
The best way to make sure that no one posts something you don’t like is to require moderator approval of all comments. There are two sides to this. On one hand, you will absolute control over anything posted on your site. Nothing will get past you/whomever you place in charge of this duty. On the other hands, you are looking at an inordinate amount of time required to sift through a multitude of entries. Also, users may be less inclined to post if they feel they may be censored for no reason.
Well, that’s all for this week. We covered some basic steps for protecting your blog from spammers and unwanted ads. Check back next week for more!
-Josh and Sean
CDTek.com
Tags: Blog Hints, captcha, comments, internet, Marketing, seo, spammers
Posted in Blog | No Comments »