Recently at LiveConsulting, we’ve noticed an increase in security threats using wireless networks that our customers weren’t aware of, so we thought we’d release some tips and tricks for staying secure while staying wireless!

First of all, the easiest way to stop any risk to your computers or phones over a wireless connection is to disable it altogether. This is especially convenient for phones, since it also saves significant battery life!

When you’re actively on a wireless network from a Windows Laptop, make sure you have Windows Sharing disabled, and the Windows Firewall disabled (please call us if you’d like any asistance!).

Encryption software for your connection (like a VPN) or encryption software for your files (like a file compressor) can also help secure your computer, especially if used in tandem.

Finally, probably the most important step you can take towards security is to know what network you’re connecting to, and to make sure it’s secured. Networks that are marked as “open” can be used by hackers to exploit anyone that connects to them. If you absolutely have to connect to an open network, we recommend removing any confidential information from your computer first.

Wireless networks are a fantastic and useful tool, but they can also be a very dangerous liability. Turn the potential danger into a strength with the help of LiveConsulting!

Today we hear plenty of praise for cloud computing and all the advantaged that come with it, but outsourcing to the cloud comes with consequences that can hamper business, and aren’t always immediately apparent.

The folks over at Microdoctor have compiled a great list of issues that can come up, and should be considered before making the decision to move to a cloud-bases solution. I’ll roughly describe their list below, but you can read the complete list of downsides to cloud computing at their website.

1. Loss of control: with a cloud solution, your services are much less accessible for direct maintenance. This can drastically change support time lines.
2. You are a part of a large community of customers when you outsource to the cloud, so something that is critical to your company might not be critical to the cloud hosting provider.
3. Your software versions and what upgrades are installed on your system are determined by your cloud host.
4. You’re completely dependant on your internet connection; if it goes down (or even slows significantly), you lose access to your systems.

Microdoctor’s list of downsides also includes the fact that even after you move to the cloud, you’ll still need IT help on premises on occassion. Of course, with LiveConsulting’s services, that wouldn’t be a problem at all!

Websites are written with a code called “HTML”, which uses certain tags. For instance, in order to make my words italicized like this, I would use the italics tags like this; [i]italicized text would go here[/i]. It’s extremely surprising and more than a little worrisome, then, that a simple HTML tag can cause your computer to bluescreen. The Register has more info:

An unpatched critical flaw in 64-bit Windows 7 leaves computers vulnerable to a full ‘blue screen of death’ system crash.

The memory corruption bug in x64 Win 7 could also allow malicious kernel-level code to be injected into machines, security alert biz Secunia warns. Fortunately the 32-bit version of Windows 7 is immune to the flaw, which has been pinned down to the win32k.sys operating system file – which contains the kernel portion of the Windows user interface and related infrastructure.

Proof-of-concept code showing how to crash vulnerable Win 7 boxes has been leaked: the simple HTML script, when opened in Apple’s Safari web browser, quickly leads to the kernel triggering a page fault in an unmapped area of memory, which halts the machine at a blue screen of death.

If you’re experiencing Blue Screens in Windows and don’t know why, LiveConsulting can help. Call us today to see how!

Lockheed-Martin is conducting promising R&D into new Satellite Technology that is promising to increase the accuracy and ease of use for GPS technology. Current technological standards only allow for accuracy up to 10 feet, but with these new Satellites the accuracy would improve to within 3 feet! It also has the added benefit of working indoors (and near high-rises, solving a frustration that many city dwellers are familiar with). Discovery.com has more info:

Lockheed-Martin won’t say much about exactly how it has improved the system, though it has published a fact sheet. A company spokesperson told Discovery News that the technology is “sensitive.”

That said, there are a few technical advances that can be noted.

– Reflectors. The new satellites will have reflectors that will be used by ground crew, who will fire a laser beam at the craft to determine how far off the satellite is from its position. The laser reflectors reduce the need to depend on the satellite’s radio signals. The checks will also reveal whether the satellite’s clock is off; and if so, corrected to make global positioning more accurate.

– M Code. The satellites will emit a new military signal, called M-code, which is more difficult to jam and offers better security. The signal will be sent from a high-gain antenna that also provides a spot beam designed to boost the signal strength.

– Civilian Signal. Along with the military signal, each satellite will send a civilian signal. Sending two signals (military and civilian) to GPS devices will allow for better error correction.

Stronger, more accurate signals will benefit everyone. Google will be better able to move its mapping function indoors, and hikers with GPS devices will have an easier time not getting lost.

I’m told from contacts at Apple that the number one reason iPods, iPhones and other electronics go bad is because people bring them into the bathroom, then leave them on the counter while they shower. The steam builds up water inside the device, which then shorts and ceases to function. I’ve heard several Apple employees tell customers not to bring their devices into the bathroom with them, but this Apple employee had a different idea:

20-year-old Trevor Harwell allegedly installed malware on the computers he was supposed to be fixing, which would cause them to randomly display the following bogus error message: “You should fix your internal sensor soon. If unsure what to do, try putting your laptop near hot steam for several minutes to clean the sensor.”

So, for the sake of your devices’ operation (not to mention your privacy!) Live Consulting recommends that electronics stay out of the bathroom.

Nokia is making a hard push into the smartphone market. It just released two new cutting edge Windows phones at their “Nokia World” expo, but the big news is their next-gen concept phone, the GEM. This phone is designed with no buttons and no case, just screen. Both the front, back, and all sides of the phone are capable of displaying graphics and are touch-screen capable. Geeksailor breaks it down for us:

Because both the front and the back of Nokia GEM are interactive, you can, for example, pinch to zoom on the rear of the device while keeping a constant clear view of the image on the front. Because you can have different zoom levels on each side of the Nokia GEM, you can keep a detailed map on the front and a large-scale map on the rear, making easier for you to flip between the two map instances.

Another interesting feature of Nokia GEM is that you can have ads on the back of the device while making calls which will result into bill discounts.

The Nokia GEM users will be able to create and use avatars, change the mood of their avatars and even interact with other Nokia GEM users via the avatars.

Because you can interact with all the Nokia GEM sides, you will be able to have a single wallpaper wrapped around your smartphone.

It’s an ingenious idea, but will take mountains of beta testing and software tweeking: no one wants to accidentally hang up on a friend simply because their finger brushed the wrong side of the phone.

Apple’s decision to not support Adobe’s Flash on their iPhone marked the first significant nail in the Flash coffin. After several attempts at creating a reasonable mobile product (on both Blackberry and Android), Adobe has completely given up on it’s development of mobile Flash. From Adobe’s website:

HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively. This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms. We are excited about this, and will continue our work with key players in the HTML community, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and RIM, to drive HTML5 innovation they can use to advance their mobile browsers.

Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations (chipset, browser, OS version, etc.) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook. We will of course continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations. We will also allow our source code licensees to continue working on and release their own implementations.

Moving away from Flash could be tough for you and your company; if it is, you know who to call.

A new device by the Israeli tech company VKB inc. projects a keyboard onto any surface, then uses cameras and the light it projects to see which keys are being typed on. Imagine- a full QWERTY keyboard any place with a flat surface! Perfect for the businessperson on the go. You can find it on ThinkGeek for $169.99.

From Boston.com:

The longest BlackBerry outage in many years left customers outraged this week, threatening to cost the granddaddy of all smartphones more business when it’s already struggling to keep up in a crowded marketplace.

The three-day blackout interrupted email and Internet services for tens of millions of frustrated users and inflicted more damage on an already tarnished brand.

“I’ve been a pretty big BlackBerry advocate,” said Kate Jacobson, a student at Michigan State University. “But I’m done playing these games with you, BlackBerry.”

With Android and the iPhone dominating the smartphone market, Blackberry has a very specific demographic: people used to their Blackberry. That said, even the most diehard Blackberry fan won’t tolerate outages like this. If you or your business needs to transition from Blackberry to either Apple or Android phones, Liveconsulting can ease the transition and help keep you operationally mobile.