Facebook, beloved by many, is an ever-changing and evolving entity. One of the latest updates is the introduction of Graph Search, which makes it easier for users to find each other based on their likes, photos, comments, etc. Before this new feature is turned on, it would be beneficial to you to perform a profile audit.

There are three main parts to this audit, which will ensure that your personal profile is ready for Graph Search. Bear in mind that this is for your personal account, not your business Facebook Page. This audit is ideal if you would like a more professional looking profile.

Step 1. Check who can search for you The whole idea of Facebook is to be social, however you may not want to be found by every man and his dog on this platform. You can check who can search for your profile by:

1. Clicking the Lock icon in the top-right hand side of the screen.
2. Selecting Who can contact me?
3. Looking at Who can send me friend requests? By default it is set to Everyone, but you can change this by pressing the downward facing blue arrow.
4. Looking at Whose messages do I want filtered into my inbox?

Step 2. Check your Activity Log The Activity Log is essentially a journal for Facebook. It covers everything you have done on Facebook, and provides you with a quick way to edit your profile. You can access it by:

1. Clicking on the Lock icon in the top-right hand side of the screen.
2. Selecting Who can see my stuff?
3. Click on Use Activity Log.

Depending on how active you are on Facebook, it could take a bit of time to look through your activities. If you see something you don't like, or would like to change, press the pencil at the right-hand side of the activity. This will allow you to edit the post, remove it from your timeline or delete it. Note, that if you remove it from your timeline, the information won't be deleted.

If you press the Lock icon you can change who can see the post/activity on your timeline too. It would be a good idea to look through your whole timeline and ensure that any unprofessional comments, links, likes, etc. are either deleted or removed from your timeline. It wouldn't be a good idea to make your profile completely private however, so ensure some posts - maybe ones related to your business, hobbies, interests, etc. - are still visible.

Step 3. Check who can see future posts Facebook has included an option that allows you to set who can see future posts on your timeline. This will lessen the need for a future account audit. You can set this by:

1. Clicking on the Lock icon in the top-right hand side of the screen.
2. Selecting Who can see my stuff?
3. Pressing the downward facing blue arrow under Who can see my future posts? and setting it to the desired level of security.

In order to ensure your profile is optimized for Graph Search, carrying out this audit would be a great idea. As we stated above, you don't have to make everything private, after all, this is a social network. Just make sure that anything that is unbecoming of the professional you are is removed or hidden from prying eyes. If you would like a little help ensuring both you and your business are ready for the next big Facebook feature, contact us today.

There are numerous tech buzzwords that surface each year, one of the more common in the past couple of years is virtualization. Being able to take physical systems and replace with a cheaper, often more efficient, virtual version, is something many businesses appreciate. Up to this point, most solutions have focused on desktops and servers. We predict that the next gadget to virtualize will be the smartphone.

Traditional smartphones are individual packages. The operating system and user are physically tied to the device. If you think about it, there are really only a few phones out there, and millions of people probably have the exact same one that you do. They differentiate their phones from others by the pictures, apps, videos, etc. stored on the device and the way they have personalized their phones.

Should you lose your phone, that data is likely lost, and you are faced with a potentially high cost to replace it. The two major operating system developers - Apple (iOS) and Google (Android) - have started to implement virtual backup solutions. Your contacts, apps and some personalization settings are backed up to the cloud and connected with a user account. When you enter the account information, you can quickly get the most important information from your phone back.

Combine this with the various cloud storage services that allow users to store their information, pictures, etc., with access from nearly any device. This integration with the cloud has enabled users to rely less on physical devices, and points to a potential virtualization concept: Non-dedicated devices.

The idea of non-dedicated devices is that you can use any device, regardless of manufacturer or OS, to access a system you can call your own. Imagine if your phone runs out of batteries. You borrow a friend's, log in using your username and password and that device instantly becomes personalized to you.

Could this work? There are currently three identifiable virtualization trends that point to non-dedicated mobile devices becoming  a reality:

1. Increasing adoption of cloud services by mobile uses - Many mobile users have cloud storage apps installed on their devices and store some form of mobile related information or data on it. What's more, these apps are cross-platform meaning you can access them on iPhone, Android, Mac or Windows.
2. Heavy personalization of mobile devices - OS developers have started to store more information in the cloud. Google, for example, can store your contacts and basic personalization choices - e.g., wallpaper and apps, pictures, and even your calendar, in the cloud. Make changes on your mobile and you will see these on your computer too.
3. Ability to access whole work systems from a mobile device - There are apps for both Android and Apple devices that allow users to access and control their desktops and work systems directly from phone or tablet. This has decreased the need for users to be chained to their desk just to be able to do work.

It wouldn't be hard for an enterprising company to develop a system that integrates these three, already existing functions into a device. The only major stumbling block we can see is that current OS developers don't necessarily get along all that well. We predict that this virtualization will become a possibility on individual systems (Android and iOS), in the near future, but across systems may take longer.

We'd like to know what you think of non-dedicated devices. Would you use one? Are there any other problems you can foresee? Let us know today.

A new report suggests that 2013 may be the year of the great electronic medical records (EMR) vendor switch given that many EMRS are falling short of providers' expectations.

To come to that conclusion, Black Book Rankings polled roughly 17,000 active EMR adopters - and found that as many as 17 percent may switch out their first-choice EHR by the end of the year.

The reason: In light of Stage 2, provider demands are increasing, and EMR users are reporting that many EMRs aren’t living up to expectations. In fact, those polled cited numerous cases of software firms underperforming badly enough to lead them to lose market share.

As a result, 31 percent of survey respondents indicated they were "dissatisfied enough" with their EMR to consider switching. Of those users, the reasons cited for the potential switch were as follows: The EMR did not meet the practice’s needs (80 percent); the practice had not adequately assessed its needs before choosing the EMR (79 percent); the EMR design did not fit the medical specialty (77 percent); and the EMR vendor was unresponsive to requests (44 percent).

Eighty percent of U.S. doctors believe virtual assistants would drastically change how they use electronic medical records (EMRs) within five years, thereby freeing time for them to spend with patients.

That information came from a survey conducted by Nuance Communications, a speech recognition company that has brought virtual assistants to consumers.

According to the survey, one in every three doctors spends 30 percent or more each day on administrative activities - and these activities could be eliminated or redirected using voice-enabled virtual assistants.

Also according to the survey, 73 percent of physicians believe virtual assistants would improve health care by helping them coordinate care between multiple caregivers, and 65 percent believe virtual assistants would allow them to provide more accurate, timely information to support care.

In particular, physicians surveyed seemed interested in intelligent and voice-driven, computerized physician order entry (CPOE) - a technology that uses sophisticated reasoning patterns beyond speech for ordering medications, laboratory tests and radiology exams.

When it comes to your business there are many dangers that could negatively impact your bottom line, or even force you out of business. As such, it's a good idea to have a plan in place to help keep your business operational during any disaster. This strategy is commonly referred to as a Business Continuity Plan, and is something that companies will benefit from looking into.

While a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) can be complicated, and comprised of many different objectives, the main reason companies include this in their business strategy is to build up resilience. Disasters of many kinds can result in either lost data, sales or even business. While a BCP won't prevent large-scale disasters, it will help your business recover quicker.

When looking at how resilient your business is, there are three main aspects to consider.

RTO RTO stands for Recovery Time Objective and is the time period from the beginning of the disaster to recovery of operations. This number, or time period, will be different for every company. For example, companies that operate online stores will likely have a short RTO, as they rely on 24/7 uptime to conduct business and sales.

In general the RTO is an objective, one that employees and stakeholders should strive for. Having one can help planners identify potential problem areas along with critical functions that must be recovered and any preparations that will be necessary. If a business does not address, or identify a set time to recovery they could see an unnecessary increase in recovery times, or worse lost profits.

RPO RPO stands for Recovery Point Objective and represents the amount of data a business is willing, or can afford, to lose. The easiest way to figure this out is to look at your systems and think about how much data or information you personally can lose before being unable to do your job. From there, you can work out the frequency with which you should back up your systems.

For example: If you figure that you can lose a day's worth of data, then your backup should be done on a daily basis. If you currently back up your data or systems once a week, and figure you can only miss a day, then RPO helps you realize this is not enough and that you need a system or plan that better meets your needs.

The difference between RTO and RPO is that RTO is a broad process that covers the whole Business Continuity timeline, while RPO is focused on data and backup.

ROI When looking at different Business Continuity systems, it is always a good idea to calculate the ROI, or Return on Investment. You can calculate the cost of the integrating any plan, time to implement and recovery, expected value it can bring your business and avoided losses. This will give you a pretty good picture on whether current systems are strong enough, and if new alternatives are better.

By figuring out the time you expect to recover, how often you should back up and the total ROI of proposed, or existing, systems you can gain a clearer picture of how resilient your company is.

If you're looking to make your company a little more resilient, why not get in touch with us? We are happy to sit down and discuss your options with you.

For many, social media is a deeply ingrained part of daily life. For companies it's become an integral part of their marketing and communications strategy. Because of this, the security of these services is something users expect. 99% of the time. However, there are breaches that can cause trouble for users.

It only took one month for the first major security breach of a social network, and this time it happened to Twitter. On the first of February, Twitter announced on their blog that slightly over 250,000 accounts had been compromised.

At this time, Twitter doesn't know who is responsible for the attack but according to the blog post they know that, "The attackers may have had access to limited user information – usernames, email addresses, session tokens and encrypted/salted versions of passwords."

Yes, the hackers did get access to passwords, although the company noted that they got the 'encrypted/salted' versions, this means they didn't actually get the passwords themselves. To get the account passwords they would have to decrypt the information first, something many hacker's don't bother with.

What does this mean for my company? If you or your company has a Twitter account, you would have already have received an email if your account was breached. While 250,000 sounds like a high number, keep in mind that there are over 72 million active accounts (users who post more than once a week).

While this is a drop in the proverbial bucket, it's still a security threat that you should act upon. At the very least you should take steps to change your password. You can do this by logging into Twitter and pressing the cog in the top right of the tool bar. Select Settings followed by Password. Enter your current password, followed by a new password and verify it. Press Save changes and you are done.

It is a good idea to pick a completely new password, one with numbers, letters and if possible special characters like !, $ or ^. At the very least, it should be different from any other passwords you use.

Looking to learn more about the security breach or if Twitter is right for your business? Give us a shout, we'd be happy to talk social media with you.

How many times have you been in a meeting only to have a participant's phone ring or vibrate? This is a common occurrence and to many, this is the type of interruption that drives them nuts. While smartphones have changed our lives, mostly for the better, there are still times when we don't seem to follow common 'mobile etiquette', leading to others perceiving us as rude.

Here's six cell phone etiquette tips you should practice to ensure you show respect to your peers, and people around you while on your phone.

1. Watch what you snap - Almost every phone has a camera these days, and we can't help but take pictures of nearly everything. While it is convenient to take pictures with your phone, there are times when it's not a good idea, such as in a meeting, for example. In general, if you are supposed to be paying attention to something, don't take pictures.
2. Indoor voices - It's not uncommon to hear someone practically yelling into their phone on a busy street. This is often because they think that they can't be heard by the person on the other end. The vast majority of modern phones have powerful enough microphones and noise cancelling technology to enable users to talk with an indoor voice, even while out on the busy street. If the person you're talking to can't hear you, try cupping your other hand over your mouth and directing the sound towards the phone.
3. Darn you autocorrect! - Most phones use touchscreen keyboards as their input for text. This can be quite inaccurate, so OS developers created autocorrect, which usually picks the wrong word, leading to some potentially embarrassing situations. When typing on your phone, be sure to always read over what you have written before you hit send.
4. Resist the beep - One of the more annoying things about smartphones is that every time a notification sounds people rush to check it. This can be seen as rude, especially if when you are talking with a customer your phone goes off and you cut off from them to check it. It's a surefire way to lose the sale! When you're in meetings, or talking with customers/employees, ignore your phone until you are free to answer/check. If you are expecting an important call, excuse yourself before turning your attention to your phone..
5. Pick the right notifications - Your phone has numerous notification levels. You can set the phone to vibrate, ring, or for lights to flash, etc. If you are in a meeting, it's best to set your phone on silent, as even vibrate is enough to distract these days. Really, the only time your phone should be on ring is when you have it in your pocket, or are in a loud location and unlikely to hear it.
6. Turn it off every now and then - smartphones bring the ability to be always connected, which can be both good and bad. Sometimes being constantly connected leads to higher stress, and increased work hours at the expense of your personal life. You shouldn't be too afraid of spending a bit of time away from your phone every now and then. Just be sure to let people know that you won't be answering calls or texts.

Polite use of your smartphone will go a long way toward ensuring you are seen as a person that others want to do business with. What are your etiquette rules in regards to phone use? Let us know.

If you would like to learn more about how to leverage smartphones in your business, please contact us today.

As a species we are social, needing relationships to survive. That's likely why social media websites have taken off so successfully. They give us a way to interact, even when we are physically alone. Companies have found that these sites are great marketing tools that can build a brand better than almost any other method. One social media use, often overlooked, is learning more about a job applicant coming for an interview.

Here's three steps you can employ to learn a bit more about potential hires before they come in for an interview.

1. Google them Googling yourself can be seen as vain, however putting a potential hires name into Google Search is smart. You can enter their name along with specific queries that can help you narrow information down. One thing you can do is enter their name with double quotes around it and the city they are based in, this will help you find their presence on related social media sites. You can also put their area code, zip or postal code to narrow down the search.

The point of this is to help you find more information about the person without having to search on individual social media sites. This will also return results like photo albums, recent account activity and maybe even some hobbies and interest groups. Searching on Google, or other search engines is a good way to see if the prospective employee is legitimate.

2. Take a look on Facebook Almost everyone and their dog are on Facebook, so don't forget to search for them on this popular service. With the recently announced Graph Search, this should make searching a lot easier too. Enter their name, along with some specific interests or information from the resume and the chances of finding this person's profile go up.

While some would argue the ethics of doing this, you may see information or posts that counter information in the resume, or even paint a better picture of the applicant. For example, you can ask them about their family when they come in for an interview. It could prove to be a great ice breaker.

3. LinkedIn Most social media sites focus on the social aspect of people's lives, while LinkedIn focuses on the more career and professional oriented areas. Searching for the candidate on LinkedIn can often shed more light on their history, and may even showcase common links between you and them. If you notice that the candidate worked for a previous employee, you could contact that employee to see if they have any thoughts about the candidate.

Researching your future hires is a good idea because it can help you learn more about them than you might otherwise do from just an interview. It also gives you a bit of a deeper understanding of if they would be a good fit for the company. If you would like to learn more about how you can leverage social media in your company please contact us today.

As technology continues its creep into every aspect of our life, the number of Internet connected devices we use is also growing. This has led to an increase in the number and severity of security threats facing networks. It seems that almost every week a new security threat is uncovered. One of the latest can potentially affect nearly every device that connects to the Internet.

At the end of January, numerous news and tech media services issued warnings about UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) enabled devices. This was taken to be a big issue because of the widespread adoption of these devices and the fact that many of them have little to no security measures, which could open whole systems to attacks. Many business owners and managers are wondering what exactly is UPnP and how it can open systems to attack.

UPnP defined UPnP is a protocol or code that allows networked devices like laptops, computers, Wi-Fi routers, and many modern mobile devices, to search for and discover other devices connected to, or wanting to connect to, the same network. This protocol also allows these devices to connect to one-another and share information, Internet connection and media.

A good example of UPnP in use is your laptop. When you first connect your laptop to your router, you likely have to enter a password and maybe even the router's network name. Without UPnP you would have to find the network and enter the password each time you want to connect to the Internet. With UPnP, your laptop can automatically connect whenever it's in range.

Why is UPnP a security threat? UPnP has been in use for the better part of seven years and has since come to be found in nearly every device that connects to the Internet - pretty much everything. While it was written for devices in the home e.g., Wi-Fi routers, many businesses also use these devices because they are often easier to set up and cost less than their enterprise counterparts.

Because of the sheer number of devices that use this protocol, and the fact that it's engineered to respond to any request to connect to the device, it makes sense that this could be a security issue. A recent study tested the security of UPnP and revealed some interesting results.

Rapid7, the company that conducted the study, sent UPnP discovery requests to every routable IPv4 address. - IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) is a set of protocols for sending information from one computer to another on the Internet. A routable IPv4 address is one that can be contacted by anyone on the Internet. They found that over 80 million addresses used UPnP, and 17 million of these exposed the protocol that enables easy connection to the system or device. This can be easily exploited by hackers.

In other words, 17 million systems, many of which could be businesses, are open to attack through the UPnP device. This security threat opens networks to denial-of-service attacks which make resources, including the Internet, unavailable to the user. One example of a popular denial-of-service attack is a hacker making your website unavailable to others.

Can we do anything? Most experts are recommending that you disable UPnP on your networked devices. The first thing you should do however is to conduct a scan for vulnerable UPnP devices on your network. Tools like ScanNow (for Windows) can help you search. For many, this is a daunting prospect, as the chance of creating more issues is just too great.

We recommend contacting an expert like ourselves, who can conduct a security analysis and advise you on steps you can take to ensure you are secure. So, if you are worried about the security of your systems, give us a call today. We may have a solution for you.