5 IT Shortcuts That Put Your Companys Data at Risk

IT departments looking to save time and money shouldn't be doing so at the expense of their data protection. A study from the University of Texas revealed that 43% of companies suffering from catastrophic data loss close and never reopen, and 51% close within two years.

1. Ignoring Hardware Failures

Hardware failures are the leading cause of data loss. Though most IT professionals don't completely disregard hardware that is failing to back up company data and systems, many do often ignore the fact that certain backup mediums have high failure rates, such as tape or a SAN or NAS storage device that is used as both the source and target of a backup. To reduce the risk of hardware failures, move data from primary storage to a separate, secondary storage device. Disk-to-disk backup is the best approach, as it's more reliable than tape and still ensures a physically separate secondary storage set that can survive hardware and system failures.

2. Trusting Co-workers to Follow Policies

The reality is that employees aren't always great at following company policies, and even when they do, mistakes still happen. The best defenses against human error are automation and retention. Automation enables automatic execution and strict enforcement of created policies and procedures, and retention enables data recovery, regardless of whether the data loss is noticed right away or weeks later.

3. Underestimating Cybercriminals

By now, most companies have at least basic security solutions, such as firewalls and anti-virus software, in place to defend against malware. But cybercriminals are becoming very adept at breaking through traditional cyberdefenses. IT professionals should evaluate their infrastructure, identify areas of vulnerability and implement advanced security solutions to overcome them. These solutions include web monitoring software for safe Internet usage, end-point protection for bring-your-own-device management and a sandbox to fight targeted attacks. From a backup perspective, the best approach is to operate backup and disaster-recovery solutions on a non-Windows operating system. Windows has long been one of cybercriminals' favorite targets, and running protection software on an operating system that is relentlessly under attack just doesn't make sense.

4. Playing the Odds

Despite data-loss horror stories, many companies still don't have disaster-recovery plans in place to protect information from natural and man-made disasters. And many of the companies that do have set plans have just one general set of guidelines that apply to all disaster situations. A strong plan focuses on people, infrastructure and processes, and clearly outlines how each is affected in different disaster scenarios.

5. Failing to Test Disaster-Recovery Plans

Failure to test disaster-recovery plans, or testing them on an infrequent basis, can greatly increase the risk of data loss in the event of a disaster. Since IT infrastructure evolves daily, thorough testing must be done on a consistent schedule that allows it to be adopted as yet another standard business practice.

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Android studio for easy Android Programming for developers

Android developers could use the Android Development Tools (ADT) plug-in for the Eclipse IDE, but Android Studio will be the first dedicated IDE for the mobile OS. Google built Android Studio on the base of IntelliJ’s Idea Java IDE.

Apple invested a lot of effort into its Xcode IDE in order to make it easy for developers to write apps for the iOS iPhone and iPad that compete with Android.

It was presented during the Google I/O 2013 Keynote presentation Hugo Barra that Google is working on a new integrated development environment (IDE) for Android app development. It aims to resolve some of the difficulties that Android developers face when developing apps.

Besides all the sophisticated features like code completion, code analysis, and Android specific code re-factoring, the new IDE includes a built-in layout previewer. This will be a big bonus for app 

developers for a couple of very important reasons. First getting an app’s user interface right can be hard. Although actually adding the different components to a UI is relatively simple, actually making that design easy to use and intuitive can be difficult. By adding new design tools including the preview mode Google is trying to make that job easier. Often the difference between a good app and a bad app can just be the design of the UI, regardless of the level or completeness of the functionality. 

The new preview window is live in the sense that it reflects changes to the XML in the layout file as the developer types. As soon as a new component is added it will appear in the preview without the need to manually re-render it.

Watch as Tor Norbye gives a quick a preview of Android Studio:

Download the IDE here:  Android Studio

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Apple iPhone 5S in gold?

The Apple iPhone 5S is rumored to be coming late in the third quarter. A report out of Japan on Thursday says that one of the colors that the next iteration of the Apple iPhone will come in is gold. Based on that report it looks like that that gold colored SIM tray that we showed you the other day, is a legitimate part of the Apple iPhone 5S. Other colors mentioned are white and silver.

According to Japan’s Macotakara, the phone will be released in August and will have an upgraded CPU. We do expect to see the Apple A7 under the hood of the Apple iPhone 5S, and an improved camera. And now, apparently, a multitude of color options will be made available, including gold. Despite speculation that Apple is toying with the idea of building a 5.7 inch iPhone, this year’s new model will be the same size as the Apple iPhone 5. That means you can expect the 4 inch display to be around for at least one more year.

According to the report, the Apple iPad mini 2 will also be released in August, although there is no word when the full-sized, fifth-generation Apple iPad will be offered. And according to the story, the low cost version of the iPhone will be launched in September although the colors it will be available in have not yet been decided upon. Black, white, pink, orange and blue appear to be the front runners while green has been scratched.

[Source : pinoytechnologies.com]

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Does the Internet love cats or dogs more?

Sometimes it’s all just a little too much, right? The stress of just, you know, living your life, man – it’s all got you down. The weight of the world is resting on your shoulders, and no amount of comfort food or coffee or talking it out seems to be cutting it.

And that’s when you turn to the Internet and all its glory for relief. Maybe you go on endless Wikipedia binges, or maybe you update your Pinterest board with how-tos you’ll never complete. Maybe you ravenously consume reaction GIF blogs (me, that’s me, I do that!). Or maybe you just look at pictures of your favorite animal … which, if you’re a true Internetizan, would be the cat.

But have we spoken too soon? Is the dog actually more popular than the cat? With the age of Grumpy CatTM officially upon us, and an Internet-wide scare over the life of Boo the Dog, it’s time to find out what the Internet really loves more: Cats or dogs? 

According to Google … 

It’s dogs. 

The search term “dog” has solidly won over “cat” for years now – even in a U.S.-only Google Trends data pull. 

We’re apparently searching for dog-related content more than we’re searching for anything about cats. Of course, you could (and should) argue that this doesn’t exactly mean the Internet community is more in love with canines; it simply means we have more questions about them. I’m willing to bet that far more people need advice on taking care of dogs than cats – anyone who Googles “tips and tricks for best cat care” probably gets back something that reads, “put out food, pet when on lap, get used to being ignored.” 

According to Facebook … 

It’s another win for dogs. 

Graph Search tells me that there are way, way, way more conversations going on within the network about dogs – and look, more people even like the official “Dogs Animal” page. 

According to Instagram … 

It’s sort of a split: The “dog” hashtag pulls it out over “cat,” but “cats” comes out on top over “dog.” And if you take a look at the respective DogsofInstagram and CatsofInstagram pages, it looks like things are getting a little closer. Still, dogs probably win this round, if just barely. 

According to YouTube … 

It’s still dogs … although just barely. 

Dogs FTW?

Here are a couple of charts courtesy of PeopleBrowser’s Researchly tool that put the whole Cats vs. Dogs debate into perspective. 

You might be thinking this means dogs solidly win. However …

Famous cats crush famous dogs

That’s right! Dogs, you might be handily pulling down the search world, and maybe you’re even getting your photos taken more, but the famed cats of the Internet are seriously showing you what’s up. 

Take for instance, Boo the Pomeranian versus Grumpy Cat. 

Grumpy Cat total domination. Sure, Boo’s official page has more likes, but he’s been around much longer – and just look at how many people are currently discussing Grumpy Cat and how many different pages are devoted to her.

Okay, but sure, GC is the stuff Internet legends are made of. What about a slightly lesser-known celeb-cat? 

The competition came close, but Boo, you are no match for Maru. You are but a lowly box that he will jump over into. And while Boo might now be seeing some more popularity, Keyboard Cat‘s peak fame dwarf’s the miniature dog. 

And therein lies the Web discrepancy between cats and dogs: Dogs are  generally – (exceptions include Boo, Mishka, and Beast) – nameless animals used in hilarious GIFs or memes. They don’t go on talk shows, they don’t make appearances at SXSW. They don’t get movie offers. Is it because they’re eager to please and the purveyors of Internet culture prefer sarcasm to sweetness? Or maybe it’s because cats are sort of recluses, content to lounge all day and never go outside … like the most Tumblr-addicted among us. They have that IDGAF attitude that so many of the virtually-sucked in have. 

Dogs, on the other hand, are loving, accepting, go-getter types. So, instead of raise them to the heights of Lil’ Bub and Nyan Cat and create memes like cat-bearding, we instead do practical things online that concern dogs, like, you know, looking up where the best local dog parks are, or tagging pictures of our pet on Instagram. Dogs are of the real world and shall remain rather nameless online. 

Sorry, statistics. You may have proved that dogs rule search, but cats individually are able to capture that certain viral something. 

[Source: Digitaltrends.com]

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Americans are not the most addicted Starbucks-drinking, social users in the world

Social media is massively popular, but as it turns out, people in the U.S. aren’t as hopelessly addicted to the Internet as you might think – at least compared to some other countries. Sure, being less bad doesn’t make you good, but it’s kind of comforting to know there are other people even more addled by constant check-ins and tweets than we are. A new study by Local Measure looked at how often people in Starbucks across the world used the Internet, and how they used it.  The results show the U.S. as the fourth most rabid user base; it lags far behind Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines when it comes to posting on social media, at least based on the data collected at these Starbucks locations.

Now, the study only looks at how often people are going on social media at Starbucks, so if people in those countries are more apt to log in at the cafe than people in the U.S., the results could be skewed. But Local Measure founder Jonathan Barouch is confident that the information is indicative of a wider social trend. “Facebook recently released stats saying that Starbucks has one of the highest check in rates of all brands, so to me it seems to suggest a cultural difference in that Asian consumers have an even higher propensity to share on social than Americans. This is particularly pronounced in food and retail.”

This research shows that people from Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines put more social media content up than people in the U.S., but the survey also included Australia, which looks like it’s populated by a swarm of swarthy Luddites according to the results – even the United States had more than double the amount of posts.

Since Local Measure’s research does only center on Starbucks, you might want to chalk it up to cultural differences (maybe Malaysians just love Starbucks Wi-Fi more passionately than people in the U.S.?) but other research supports the idea that Americans are outpaced in social media posting. For example, even though the U.S. has the highest number of Facebook users, Socialbakers found that other countries have a higher usage rate when it comes to Pages activity. Both Brazil and Egypt had more activity than the U.S.  And even though people in China aren’t supposed to have access to Twitter, so many Chinese people use VPNs and other methods to subvert the firewall that China actually has the most active Twitter users in the world.

Studies like the Local Measure Starbucks Social 

Index demonstrate that the obsession with social media isn’t a North American thing – it’s a global phenomenon.

[source: http://www.digitaltrends.com]

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Use your home computer from anywhere (free)

Users worldwide rely on LogMeIn solutions for remote control.

LogMeIn remote access products use a proprietary remote desktop protocol that is transmitted via SSL. An SSL certificate is created for each remote desktop and is used to cryptographically secure communications between the remote desktop and the accessing computer.

Users access remote desktops using either the LogMeIn Ignition stand-alone application or a web portal. The web portal requires either an ActiveX plugin for Internet Explorer, or an extension for Firefox (the LogMeIn plug-in for Firefox), or an extension for Safari (the LogMeIn plug-in for Safari), or a plugin for Google Chrome. Failing that it falls back to requiring Java in order to run a Java program, and failing that it falls back to "a screen-shot-based HTML remote control". The web portal also provides status information for the remote computers and, optionally, remote computer management functions.

The service connects the remote desktop and the local computer using SSL over TCP or UDP and utilizing NAT traversal techniques to achieve peer-to-peer connectivity when available.

LogMeIn, Inc. holds US Patent 7,558,862 Method and apparatus for remotely controlling a computer with peer-to-peer command and data transfer

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Fruit Ninja gets multiplayer support and 8 more blades

If you’ve been a fan of the fruit slicing game, you might as well update that game right now as the developers Halfbrick Studios has added a multiplayer support so you can play with your buddy locally, on an Android tablet.

It’s been a while since the android version tasted an update, but at least it got a major one this time. However, in case you have bought the Fruit Ninja game, you’ll probably get pissed as the update on applies to the free version. Meaning, you won’t get multiplayer support yet.

But it’s not all about the two player support – as they have improved quite a few things as well. The update comes with seven new backgrounds and an additional eight blades. Also, there are some new power-ups such as peaches, berry, and bomb deflection. These can be bought via the in-app purchase or can be earned by having Starfruit in-game.

If you are craving for some multiplayer action for your android tablet, you might want to check this out. But before even trying make sure that your device is 7-inches or larger as it’s the requirement. Download the update of Fruit Ninja in Google Play.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom Now Official

Samsung recently unveiled the Galaxy S4 Zoom camera phone.  It’s literally a phone and camera combo that should raise eyebrows and make people excited at the same time.  The Galaxy S4 Zoom is probably the first true camera and phone combo since it is based on the Galaxy S4 mini with a real zoom lens slapped on it.  The device was leaked days ago and it’s now finally official.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom looks funny, at least that’s my reaction when I saw it.  It appeared like a bad joke that turned out real.  The functionality is a different story however.  The Galaxy S4 Zoom is useful to a lot of people, specifically people who want a full digital camera feature on a full-featured phone.   It will have fans for sure but count me out.  I don’t particularly like the product since it’s awkward to use as a phone, although it’s surely nice to use as a camera.  For the price, I’d rather get an Android phone and a digital camera.
 

If you’re interested about the product, the specs are quite good.  The Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom features a 4.3-inch qHD display, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, 1.5GB RAM, 8GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD slot) and a 1.9MP front facing camera.  It runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.  For the camera side of the phone, you’ll get a 16-megapixel sensor and a 10x optical zoom lens.


The Galaxy S4 Zoom’s camera has optical image stabilization and a Xenon flash and a zoom ring that launches apps when turned.  The Zoom will have software features like Photo Suggest that shows photos taken by others in the same area the user is in.


Pricing details have not been revealed yet but rumors say the price will be at around $618.  The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom will be available around fourth quarter of this year, hopefully including the Philippines.

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PlayStation 4 is destroying the Xbox One in Amazon customer poll

 

Amazon is running a poll on their Facebook page asking readers which next generation console – Sony’s PlayStation 4 or Microsoft’s Xbox One – they prefer. If you’ve been reading story comments or message boards since E3, the results probably won’t surprise you much.

With more than five days left to vote, the Xbox One has amassed 1,754 votes (as of writing). The PlayStation 4, on the other hand, has 31,689 votes. Yeah, it’s not even remotely close. Sony executives must be feeling pretty happy at this point but at Microsoft, the atmosphere probably isn’t as cheery.

True, we won’t know how all of this pans out for a few more years but right now, the results are pretty telling. That’s because, unlike other polls you may find on fan sites, Amazon is a neutral party with a huge fan base that consists of both Sony and Microsoft homers (as well fans of games in general).

A quick look at Amazon’s Best Sellers list in their video games category solidifies what we are seeing in the poll. As of writing, the launch day edition of the PlayStation 4 is already sold out. Sony’s standard edition console – with a release date of December 31, 2013 – is currently ranked first ahead of the Xbox One.

That said, do you agree with the findings in Amazon’s poll thus far? If you had to choose between the two right now, would you go with Sony’s offering or lean more towards Microsoft?

[Source: TechSpot]

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The Lazada goes Mobile

Experience the biggest online shopping mall with the new LAZADA app for Android

The Lazada Android app is equipped with an advanced internal search engine, allowing users to explore products by categories, brands, price and more. Customers can also discover the latest promos, use discount vouchers, and get exclusive updates on special arrivals. The Lazada app also features full screen views of product images, product reviews, and ratings. Customers can enjoy flexible payment terms through Cash on Delivery and credit / debit cards.

Lazada Android app features:
• Segment / Category Browser Full Text Search
• Specific Brand Search
• Discounted & On-Sale Products Filter
• Product Ratings, Reviews & Details
• Shopping cart management
• Detailed Product Images
• Easy Account Registration and Management
• Mobile Payment
• Push Notifications
• Country Selection

Lazada’s mobile app is poised to revolutionize every Filipino’s shopping experience. Download the app now and get ₱750 off your total purchase (with a minimum spend of ₱2,000) when you order through the Lazada app. Lazada will also be raffling off 5 tablets to the first 100 downloads. Don’t miss out on this exciting new giveaway!

For more details, visit http://www.lazada.com.ph/mobile-apps/

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