It All Goes to One PlaceIn the same way that many printers used in businesses are connected to a network made up of multiple printers, an organization with an office big enough to have multiple toilets has all of their porcelain thrones hooked up to the same network of pipes leading to one big drain hole exiting the building. Now, what would happen if every potty in the office was flushed at the same time? If the main drain wasn?t built to handle the flow, you would have a very messy problem on your hands. Can Your Business Handle a Super Flush?Engineers prepare for this potential problem and design their plumbing systems to be able to handle a maximum flush scenario where all the building?s toilets flush at the same time. Due to this risk, new sports stadiums participate in an event called a ?super flush? before officially opening. At a super flush event, hundreds of fans take positions at every toilet in the stadium to simultaneously flush each one. Don?t believe us? Here’s an example of a super flush event from Florida Atlantic University before they opened their new stadium. For the event, 100 FAU faithful reported for duty and flushed all 365 stalls. Go Owls! Is your company?s computer network prepared for a super flush, more commonly referred to as a virtual peak flow test? What would happen if every employee in your office hit ?print? at the exact same time? Due to the fact that a single print job takes up a significant amount of bandwidth, a printer super flush would likely cripple your network causing your system to experience downtime–which would be the equivalent (though less messy) of a failed super flush at a sports stadium during a playoff game. A Print Server, Your #1 Print SolutionThe best way to have your network pass a virtual peak flow test is to grab a monkey wrench and install a print server solution from White Mountain IT Services. It?s the job of the print server to handle all of the print traffic on your company?s network. That way, your main servers that host your business-critical applications won?t be clogged if there?s a sudden and unexpected burst of print jobs. How?s that for Sweet Relief! With a print server from White Mountain IT Services redirecting all print traffic to a dedicated server giving you expanded printing options, like increased printing controls, your network will be freed up to handle all of your business-related traffic at high-flow speeds. There?s nothing quite like the satisfaction you receive from a network where everything works at the push of a lever. For more information, reach out to White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800.
The Selfie Sombrero Talk about making a fashion statement. The selfie sombrero claims to be ?the world?s first Selfie-Hat,? and it works by integrating the Acer Iconia A1-840 tablet with a glittery sombrero. As you can tell by the picture, the tablet hangs off the brim of the hat, allowing the user to adjust the position of the brim with the attached device. This lets the selfie taker work with the available lighting, find the best angle, and, according to a press release by Acer, ?Ultimately, create the perfect social media moment.? The Selfie Brush If your hair doesn?t look good, a selfie can be a disaster. Enter the Selfie Brush; the easy way to ?Have your best hair in every selfie.? The selfie brush is an ingenious solution that combines the wasted space on the back of your mobile device with the flat side of your hairbrush. The Selfie Brush also includes a rectangular mirror on the device side so you can make sure that you look oh-so good before snapping and sharing your selfie to social media. The Selfie Stick Whereas the selfie brush and sombrero might be rather impractical inventions, especially for the average user who doesn?t obsess over the perfect selfie, the selfie stick might actually be practical enough to consider purchasing? maybe. Essentially, the selfie stick is exactly like it sounds; a stick with your device attached to the end of it, extending up to 39 inches. The selfie stick in conjunction with a camera?s auto timer allows users to take selfies, bypassing the need to ask a stranger to take their picture. In fact, for better or worse, you might have even seen the selfie stick in action at a tourist attraction. Just a few short years ago none of these selfie technologies existed; in fact, the word ?selfie? wasn’t even considered to be a real word from the learned folks over at Oxford. Yet, here we are as a society, snapping and sharing selfies while coming up with new and clever ways to do it. What about you? Do you have an opinion about this selfie phenomena? Do any of these selfie technologies appeal to you? Do you know of any cool selfie technologies that we didn?t mention? Let us know in the comments and feel free to send us a picture of your best selfie!
Surveillance CamerasWe’ll start with a solution for those in dire need to fix a major productivity issue. Employees work harder if their boss is working alongside them. If you step out of the room, or rarely spend time working with your staff, then how do you know for sure that they?re working as hard as they can? Some workers might even view their manager?s absence as an opportunity to waste time–this action is commonly referred to as ?loafing.? Thanks to surveillance systems being more affordable than ever before, it?s easy for your company to install a surveillance system so that you can keep an eye on your workers when you?re not around. With a camera installed in the room and pointing right at them, your staff won?t feel at liberty to loaf and you?ll see your productivity numbers go up. White Mountain IT Services can equip your business with digital surveillance systems that tie directly into your company?s network. Digital surveillance systems come with a variety of features, like giving you the ability to watch live surveillance footage on your mobile device while you?re out of the office. Automatic Door LocksOne way that employees tend to leak company time is through their breaks. A few extra minutes taken here and there, a few extended lunches, showing up to work a few minutes late, all of these time-wasting habits done over a consistent basis adds up to a significant amount of time lost that can drastically cut into company profits. You can take back all of this wasted time by installing automatic locks on doors and scheduling when breaks occur. If the workday starts at 8:00 a.m., and that?s when you expect your workers to be in the building and logged onto their computers, then you can set the automatic lock to lock the front door at 8:00 on the dot. If a worker is being irresponsible and running late, then they just lost a day?s pay; too bad, so sad. You can also add automatic locks on the door to the break room. Automatic locks can be seen as a rather extreme measure, but it?s well worth it if that?s what it takes to get back the money lost from employees wasting company time. As a bonus, like surveillance cameras, automatic door locks can also be controlled by your mobile device. Content FilteringWhat your employees do or don?t do on their assigned workstation can significantly cut into your company?s profits. Even the best workers are susceptible to distractions from the Internet like YouTube, Facebook, BuzzFeed, Twitter, and all the other websites that have nothing to do with work. A content filtering solution for your network is able to block employees from visiting websites that you deem to be irrelevant to their job. Companies that have implemented a content filtering solution have seen productivity increase by as much as 23 percent. Monitoring with UTMContent filtering is part of White Mountain IT Services?s Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution. In addition to content filtering, an enterprise-level firewall, and other top-notch security measures, a UTM gives you the ability to monitor how users spend their time using workstations and mobile devices connected to your company?s network. This will clue you in if time is being wasted playing games, streaming movies, and other general loafing activities that you?ve not yet blocked […]
Drones present an interesting situation for lawmakers because they?re playing catch up to the technology?s popularity. Due to the fact that everybody and everybody?s mom has a drone, some regions have yet to regulate their use. Without any laws in place to regulate drone usage, the skies are destined to become chaotic as drones cross into sensitive areas and place the public at risk. In the United States, the government body that oversees the air is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). You might have heard of the FAA before. They?re the group that regulates airplanes. However, in the case of drones, the machines fall under a specific category: Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Regarding the rules and regulations for drones, the FAA itself admits that, presently, the laws are convoluted at best. Therefore, the FAA has recently launched a campaign to educate the public on what?s allowed and not allowed when it comes to flying drones. Provided by CNet, here are a few essential guidelines to go by when it comes to drone usage: The aircraft cannot exceed a height of over 400 feet. The device must be within sight of the operator. The device cannot go within five miles of airports or air traffic. If you want to exceed any of these guidelines for a specific project, it?s recommended that you contact the FAA about it. Better safe than sorry when it comes to getting fined or having your drone confiscated. For example, when flying a UAS on Planet Hoth, be sure to first check with the Empire. You will also want to be aware of any sensitive no-fly zones, like military bases and national parks; as was recently discovered by an unlucky Washington, DC resident who made headlines for causing a security scare with his drone crashing into the White House lawn. Woops. We know that common sense is a rare commodity these days, but it should be applied when using a drone. For example, don?t fly your drone in a densely-populated area and risk injuring an innocent bystander, and don?t fly a drone with a camera near property where the owners could take it the wrong way. While there?s no law on the books prohibiting drone use in these situations, it?s just common sense to avoid them. There?s also not yet a law prohibiting one to dress up their drone in a scary Halloween costume for the purpose of scaring the pants off of unsuspecting joggers…but that doesn?t mean it?s a good idea. Actually, that?s a great idea. Here are some more drone-flying tips from CNet. Never fly a drone: Near power lines. Over crowds of people. Vehicles and highways. Schools. Government facilities. Private property (especially if you?re using a drone with a camera). For more information about where and when you can fly a drone, visit the FAA website Know Before You Fly. Drones are a fun technology that can capture really cool shots of your favorite scenery. Before you launch your drone into the skies, be sure that you?re clear for takeoff and won?t be performing any illegal maneuvers. Are you a drone enthusiast? Do you have any drone-usage tips that you can add to this article? Share them with everybody in the comments.
Even if your business has a family-friendly culture where pornography isn?t a problem, your company may still struggle with the heart of the issue–wasting company time; and, depending on the taste of an employee, they can easily waste just as much time watching a squeaky-clean Disney movie. Whether company time is wasted via YouTube or PornHub, it?s your responsibility as the business owner to make sure that your workers are getting work done whilst on the clock. How should an office manager go about monitoring their employees? The go-to solution for years has been the walk-around-the-office-and-peer-over-their-shoulders method. While this is a semi-effective solution at keeping middle schoolers from cheating on tests, it?s not very effective at keeping adults from accessing forbidden websites. This is especially the case as employee mobile devices are concerned, a trend commonly known as BYOD. You may be able to position a workstation monitor so you can see it from across the room, but a clever worker with a smartphone can easily conceal their device and stream whatever media they like. That?s why you need a network solution that monitors Internet traffic, provides history reports, and offers content filtering so that you can altogether block time-wasting websites. White Mountain IT Services provides such a network tool with our Unified Threat Management solution, which is far superior and better for workplace relationships than creeping around the room. In addition to non-work-related websites that waste company time, many of these frowned-upon sites contain malware and viruses that can compromise your company?s data. This is especially the case with online pornography. Therefore, you need an enterprise-level firewall that can block such threats from slipping through your defenses. Our UTM solution is more than a monitoring tool, it?s an all-in-one security solution that provides your business with the strongest firewall you can find, and it?s the key component to an effective BYOD policy. If you want to learn more about how White Mountain IT Services can help protect your business and keep your workers productive, we encourage you to get in touch with us at (603) 889-0800.
