This mischievous app can be found on Google Play and is called S.M.T.H. (Send Me to Heaven). However, iOS users won?t find this app in the App Store. Apple has banned the app, claiming that it was ?encouraging behavior that could result in damage to the user?s device.? Banning this app was probably the right move by Apple, as evidenced by an interview in WIRED of the app?s creator, Petr Svarovsky, where he admitted that ?he had hoped to have people shatter as many iPhones as possible.? What is his problem with iPhones? For Svarovsky, he?s one of many people who are tired of mobile devices used to flaunt wealth. As he explained to WIRED, ?The original idea was to have very expensive gadgets, which people in certain societies buy just to show off, and to get them to throw it.? One can only wonder if this expert-level trolling tactic would work for other expensive, status-symbol items, like perhaps smart TVs and luxury cars? How Does the S.M.T.H. Work?It?s ridiculous how simple this app is. Basically, all one has to do is toss their phone high up into the air and when it lands (safely) into your hands, it will tell you how high the throw was. As seen in this tutorial video: For most smartphone owners, it will take more than one throw to critically drop their phone, which is why the app provides plenty of motivation for users to keep on throwing by posting their throws to scoreboards. These leaderboards include; World Top 10, Week Top 10, Day Top 10, Local Top 10 (national) and Facebook Friends lists. As you can image, this app has claimed the innocent lives of many smartphones, earning it the infamous title, ?the last game your phone will ever play.? Although to be fair, if you?re unconcerned about the longevity of your smartphone, this app can actually make for a fun and exhilarating game where one will go to new heights in order to break their old record. Take it from these guys who creatively use rubber bands and blankets to launch their phone as high as they possibly can. What do you think about S.M.T.H.? Does it seem like an exciting new use for your smartphone? Are you going to give it a try, or perhaps recommend it to a friend as an April Fool?s Day joke? Share with us your thoughts and high score (well, maybe not) in the comments!

When you send a file to the Recycle Bin and select ?Empty Recycle Bin,? your file is deleted and it?s gone for good, right? Even though it seems like this is the case, the real story of what happens to deleted data is a bit more complicated. Actually, your deleted files are still on your PC and it takes additional measures to truly delete them. Granted, you will have to go through a lot of trouble in order to access one of these ?deleted? files, however, the fact that the file is still accessible should be enough to raise some eyebrows. Now, we?re not accusing you of trying to delete anything incriminating, but if you did, know that just selecting ?Empty Recycle Bin? isn?t enough to get you off the hook. Actually, law enforcement officials and detectives know this full well, which is why you?ll often see them carting off computers from a crime scene. Part of the reason of why this is, comes from the fact that dragging one file to a new location, like the Recycle Bin, or even another file folder, doesn?t move every single piece of data associated with that file to the desired folder. Instead, it just redirects the computer as to where to access the data, which can often be scattered across several different places on the physical hard drive. TechQuickie explains how this works: The way your operating system knows where to find all the pieces [of your data] is… through the reference to it on the Master File Table. So back to deleting stuff, removing a file from the Recycle Bin, only removes the Master File Table reference that points to the pieces that make up that file puzzle, and registers that space that it used to take up as ?empty.? This gives the operating system permission to write over it, but that does not mean that, right after you clean out your Recycle Bin, that the file is gone. Not by a long shot. Going back to our example of deleting an incriminating file, if a criminal were to delete the evidence off of their PC and then immediately go out and commit the associated crime without having done any additional activity on their PC, then that information is still on their PC and has yet to be written over. Detectives have special programs, allowing them to access and piece together these deleted-yet-still-present files which are still scattered across a hard drive. Using this same logic, this is why it?s so crucial that you get your hard drive in the hands of an IT professional like the techs at White Mountain IT Services as soon as you experience data loss. Depending on how bad of a disaster you just experienced, we might be able to use these same tools that detectives use in order to piece together files that you feared were gone for good. Of course, we can?t make any guarantees, depending on the nature of the disaster. A much better way to recover data after a disaster is to revert to a recent backed up copy. This is why routinely backing up your company?s data is so important, and why we recommend that every organization backs up their files using a Backup and Disaster Recovery solution. It?s the guaranteed way to recover […]

To some business owners, the need for business continuity might not seem apparent. They might feel that nothing bad ever happens to them, so their business should be relatively safe in the future. They might not feel the need to invest their hard-earned revenue into something that they don?t foresee being necessary. The problem here is that if you don?t invest in protecting your hard-earned assets, they could be wiped away without a second thought. Take, for instance, the omnipresent threat of natural disasters. Regardless of where your business is located, your business is always at the mercy of nature. Areas that experience harsh winters should be wary of heavy snow and ice accumulation, which can topple power lines and lead to power surges. Some locations are at great risk of tornadoes, which can, quite literally, throw all of your profits into the air. Fires, electrical storms, and other more common natural disasters can all lead to data loss, and there?s often nothing you can do to stop it. Add in the constant threat of hackers, who are unpredictable and difficult to plan for, and you could have a full-blown data loss disaster on your hands when you least expect it. Unlike a natural disaster, which has telltale signs of impending doom, hackers will brutally assault your business with whatever means they deem necessary to steal or destroy your data. If they succeed, your budget could break under heavy compliance fines associated with sensitive or personal credentials, and your company?s reputation could suffer. Finally, your organization could fall to simple user error. If someone inexperienced or untrained on how to properly handle your data messes with settings or files that they shouldn?t be messing with, you could lose track of files, or even risk them to online attacks. This is one reason why it?s always important to both educate your employees on best practices, and to use a powerful backup and disaster recovery solution. What White Mountain IT Services suggests implementing is called a backup and disaster recovery (BDR) device, which is designed to minimize downtime when faced with a crippling disaster. BDR is capable of taking multiple backups per day, which can then be stored and recovered from a secure, off-site data center, and the cloud. The BDR can minimize downtime further by temporarily taking the place of your downed server. This provides an opportunity to carefully choose an adequate replacement. This is the reason your business needs to prepare with not just a comprehensive business continuity plan, but also proactive IT solutions designed to eliminate downtime and appropriately manage the risk of doing business online. This includes equipping your business with both a quality backup and disaster recovery solution, arming yourself with powerful security measures that can detect and eliminate potential threats, as well as preventative maintenance and management. It might sound overwhelming, but White Mountain IT Services can provide all of these services for you, plus many others. Our professional technicians are exceptionally knowledgeable about the technology needs of small and medium-sized businesses, as well as the pain points that they suffer from. For more information about business continuity and our BDR solution, give us a call today at (603) 889-0800.

Share Large Files That Can?t Be Sent Through EmailIf you?re using Google Drive as your cloud storage option and productivity suite, chances are you?re using Gmail for Business as your preferred email client. As you might know, Gmail has a size cap for its attachments: 25MB. Now, however, Gmail allows for much larger attachment sizes (up to 10GB worth) thanks to its integration with Google Drive. By uploading a file to Google Drive, you can easily share it with anyone via Gmail. Try These Keyboard ShortcutsWhile many standard keyboard shortcuts work with Google Drive, there are some that specific shortcuts that are exclusive to Drive. Here?s a handy list of some of the best keyboard shortcuts for Google Drive. Just remember that in order to use these, you have to be in Drive itself, and not one of the documents you have stored in it: Shift + t: Create a new Google Docs document. This is great if you need a quick way to open a new document, but don?t want to go through the process of doing it manually. The document will be made in the current folder you?re viewing in Drive. Shift + p: Create a new presentation with Google Slides. This works in exactly the same way as the above shortcut for Google Docs. Shift + s: Create a new spreadsheet in Google Sheets. Again, this works like the above two shortcuts. / (backslash): Search through your Drive folder. This is a good alternative to manually clicking on the Search form at the top of the page. i: Show or hide the activity panel. This will show you the most recent activity on all documents in your current folder. n: Rename your selected item. This can be handy for cutting out several clicks in the renaming process, or opening the file only to rename it. Monitor Your Revision HistoryGoogle Docs and other creations in your Drive have an option allowing you to view the revision history of your document. This helps to keep users accountable for edits that they perform on documents, but it also helps you to see what was changed from a previous version of that same document. To view your revision history, click on File > See Revision History. You?ll then see a color-coded rendition of your document that shows what has been changed, and by whom, on specific dates and times. In the right panel you?ll also see the different revisions, and by clicking on them individually, you can review them or restore them as you see fit. Were any of these tips helpful? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to White Mountain IT Services?s blog.

Your Data is Backed Up Multiple Times a DayOther backup tools, like tape, can be a drag for modern businesses. It does everything it can to keep your data as up-to-date as possible, but you can only stay so recent when your data is only backed up once a day. Tape backups occur after-hours due to the strain they put on your infrastructure and the time it takes to run the backup, so in the worst-case scenario, you could be looking at data losses equivalent to an entire day?s worth of work. BDR takes this concept and applies a more logical approach. Since many of your files are likely left unchanged throughout the workday, what if you could get by while backing up only files that have been changed since the last backup was taken? By using this approach, BDR is capable of taking backups as often as every fifteen minutes, which significantly decreases the potential data loss risk if an issue were to occur. Your Data Can Survive Most AnythingNatural disasters, user error, hacking attacks, and hardware failure are all threats to your business?s continuity. All it takes is one or the other to completely derail operations. With tape backup, you also run the risk of having your backups wiped out along with the rest of your technology. If you have your tapes stored somewhere that can be damaged by natural disasters, all of your efforts will be for naught. Of course, you can plan on taking yesterday?s tape home with you every night, and hoping for the best. While this is practiced when it?s the only option, you are traveling with all of your company?s data on a small, lightweight, magnetic tape, which introduces more risk. On top of that, you would need to commit to it religiously for it to be effective. One of the best parts of using BDR is that your data can survive just about any adverse condition, provided it?s backed up properly. A fire that scorches your office can?t destroy your data if it?s stored in the cloud or in an off-site data center. A flood can wash away your technology, but if it?s stored in an off-site data center, your data will stay afloat. Your Business Can Function as UsualNormally, when a business loses access to mission-critical data, downtime can break your budget and render your operations obsolete. Businesses incapable of recovering this data and pushing forward are generally known to go out of business within a year following the incident. This is why it?s so important to have a fully functional backup and disaster recovery plan. Consider the time it takes to get back up and running after experiencing a disaster. Tape backup takes significantly longer to restore than BDR, sometimes requiring several days before your data is available. With a BDR, if the device is still intact, the BDR can take over for your downed server temporarily, while a repair takes place. In more catastrophic events where the BDR is destroyed, there are options to spin up the data in the cloud or overnight ship a BDR to a temporary location. This means that even in the worst case, you can set up a temporary office space and be up and running quickly to sustain your business. With BDR, you […]