Author: ARRC Technology

We all remember the commercials on TV (or in my case, Hulu) for Facebook Live. Share with friends! Be in the moment! Never miss a thing! They preyed hard on the fear of missing out most of us social creatures suffer from, and they succeeded pretty well. Here are the top 4 reasons why you should try Facebook Live for your personal enjoyment.

1. Fosters personal connection

It may sound a little counterintuitive to say using a social media application fosters personal connections, but in the grand scheme of things, Facebook Live is the closest we’ll get to being in every spot around the world we want to be in with the people we want to be with. Want to see the World Cup with your dad but couldn’t get off work? Check out his live stream on Facebook, along with the official FIFA live steam. You may even see some things your good ol’ dad missed! Did your best friend go on vacation to Montana? Watch her video of the snowy mountaintops live and feel like you flew there with her. Now when she talks about the sun on the snow and how it sparkled, you’ll remember that moment she shared over Facebook Live. It’s not entirely as personal as a one-on-one video chat, of course, but it allows friends and family to share moments with everyone without having to call down the list individually. Which bring us to…

2. Private chat about public live videos

With new updates came new features to Facebook Live. One of the new items is the ability to private chat with a group of your friends about a Facebook Live stream while it plays above the thread. So let’s say you and your buddies have a favorite sports team, and they’re streaming a game live on Facebook. Gather your friends in the private chat and go ham on the opposing team or share inside jokes without the rest of the Facebook universe there to interrupt or argue. It’s like a welcome shield from the vast amount of faceless Facebookers.

3. Joint live broadcast!

Sometimes doing a Facebook Live video all by yourself can be… well, kind of lame. But now you can have a friend in a separate location on the screen with you. It’s basically like letting others watch your Skype or Facetime conversation with your BFF. Think podcast with your favorite person but live, on video. Don’t have anything interesting to say? No problem! Let your friend hold the conversation while you think of the next punch line.

4. Reminisce on live moments

Maybe a little contradictory here as well, but think about it. You capture a birthday party or a surprise homecoming on Facebook Live, and when you look back on the moment, it’s real and in the present, not rehearsed or staged in any way. It adds that sprinkle of genuine to the occasion, and it’ll make reminiscing that much more special. Plus, you get to see all the comments and likes streaming in real time, so you can laugh with your kids in ten years at the reactions to the Facebook Live video of their gender-reveal parties.

Remember the hullabaloo when banks and card companies made the switch from magnetic strip credit cards to chip credit cards after a bunch of consumer data was stolen? I do. My mother was terrified for MONTHS that her identity was stolen and she would have to move to Belize. It took a long time to get her over that fear, and even longer for her to use her credit cards again. Now, if you didn’t have an overdramatic mother or need a refresher on the chip cards, check out this article from Forbes for a quick recap on the whole transition.

Basically, chip credit cards are a lot more difficult to counterfeit, which was one of the benefits proffered by supporters. By using the chip technology along with requiring a personal PIN number, many believed the new cards would be exponentially more secure. The thought that a thief could take your card but not use it without magically knowing your PIN number was a relief to a lot of people. However, not every establishment requires a PIN number to be used. You can still insert your chip card and opt for the credit option, which only requires a signature. And we all know those are never accurate or properly vetted. (I’ve signed everything from a triangle to squiggles to random words just to see if any alarms were ever triggered… the answer to that is a hard NO.)

Unfortunately, once you get past the fancy chip part, nothing new is really happening. And with every new advancement comes villainy. A new fraud scheme called ‘shimming’ is targeting our chip credit cards. Thieves who target chip credit cards insert a paper-thin device inside a chip card reader on a credit card terminal. Then, when the credit card is inserted into that slot, the device (appropriately called a “shim”) captures the card information by reading the chip and storing the data.

Although such a delicate scam is not a widespread issue yet, it is something keep in mind as a consumer and it serves as a reminder for credit card holders to monitor fraudulent purchases on their statements. Don’t be that person who blindly pays their bills without looking at the charges! Nothing is ever bulletproof, and with new technology, criminals find new holes to exploit.

To combat ‘shimming’ and boost security, MasterCard is planning to introduce a variation of credit cards that use fingerprint identification to produce secure point-of-sale transactions. In this innovative move, the card holder’s fingerprint, which will be stored on the card’s EMV chip using a fingerprint reader embedded on the card, will be needed before a transaction can go through. So unless criminals find ways to steal fingerprints AND the associated credit cards, MasterCard could be on to something extremely secure and simple. And maybe it would speed up the process so we all aren’t waiting in line at Target for hours, am I right?

So how does a biometric card work? The chip validates the user’s identity by matching the fingerprint to the stored pattern. The change process is simple for merchants, as those with a chip reader don’t need to invest in a separate fingerprint reader. Theoretically speaking, this biometric card improves security compared with chip-and-PIN, and a fingerprint card is significantly more secure than a chip card that needs only a triangle or squiggle signature.

The biometric card is currently in a trial phase but with fingerprint technology so widely accepted with the introduction of the biometric readers on smartphones, it could come around much sooner than expected.

1. Make sure everything is up-to-date and patched to the most recent version

Ransomware searches for vulnerabilities in your software and operating system to find a way in and carry out its malicious plans. The WannaCry ransomware discovered a security hole in the Windows operating system and used it to spread across networks.

Vulnerabilities can be found in anything, like your email client, internet browser, server, and nearly any other software that connects to the vast internet. Vendors issue patches for their software very regularly, which you should install as soon as possible, as inconvenient as it may seem. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Want an example? Microsoft had issued a patch for the vulnerability a month before the WannaCry attack, but unfortunately, hundreds of the thousands of computers hadn’t installed it.

With an antivirus—which you should definitely have, by the way—make sure that it’s set to automatically install the latest updates.

If you’re using an outdated operating system that is no longer supported, seriously consider upgrading to a newer version as well.

2. Minimize your attack range

As long as you’re connected to that pesky internet, there’s no such thing as absolute security. Even networks and computers that aren’t connected to the internet (air-gapped systems) aren’t absolutely secure.

An up-to-date antivirus unfortunately can’t protect you against the thousands of unknown viruses that are created every day, and a patched system won’t stop a zero-day attack (an attack that exploits a vulnerability that isn’t publicly known).

Therefore, you should try to plug the holes in your network as best you can. All major operating systems usually come with easy-to-use and pretty effective firewalls. Make sure that firewall is always turned on, and only open ports that you absolutely need.

With that being said, turn off operating system features and software that you don’t need. That includes file-sharing services and browser plugins like Flash and Java, which are rife with security holes.

Another smart measure that can reduce your attack range is keeping your work on a limited account as opposed to an administrative account. By not using an administrative account, you’ll be successfully limiting the access of the malware in the unfortunate case it does strike.

3. Monitor and manage your trust

Attackers often use phishing to deliver ransomware. Phishing is a type of scam that involves targeting victims with legitimate-looking messages that contain malicious links or infected attachments. Since the targets think the email comes from a trustworthy source, they’ll download and open the attachment, which will then deliver the ransomware.

So be very careful with the emails you receive, and don’t open any attachments unless you’re absolutely certain of the source. In case there’s any doubt, use the phone or social media to verify the authenticity of the message with the sender.

You should be very wary of certain file formats, including Microsoft Office documents (.doc, .xls), executables (.exe, .bat), and compressed archives (.zip, .rar). Cybercriminals commonly use Word macros to perform ransomware attacks.

4. Have a solid and tested backup plan

You should always be prepared for the worst coming to pass. While there have been certain scenarios where ransomware encryption has been successfully reversed at no consequence, for the most part, nothing short of paying the attackers will decrypt your files. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

That is exactly why you should always keep solid backups of your files. For files that don’t need to be modified, such as pictures and videos, you can use old-school DVDs. For other types, you can use other removable media, such as thumb drives.

External drives can work well, but they’ll be useless if they’re connected to your computer when it becomes infected. Sorry.

Cloud backups are good too as long as you make sure they aren’t mapped to local drives. Ransomware can go through all your local drives and encrypt their content, whether they’re on your hard drive or in the cloud.

Lastly, be careful when storing your archives in shared folders. Certain breeds of ransomware will scan your network and find unmapped shared folders and encrypt their content too.

We use it every day to communicate, plan our days and our projects, and transfer files and information. And with the necessity of keeping a paper trail, it’s no wonder our inboxes are overloaded by the thousands. The good news is that with careful organization and consistency, it is possible to reach “inbox zero.” Follow these seven simple steps and experience the many benefits of email bliss.

Don’t be afraid to delete.

If it’s not important, delete it. The hoarding of emails is out of control, and the only way to tame it is to be honest with ourselves about which emails we need and which ones we don’t.

Use labels.

When it comes to emailing, labels (or filters) are your best friend. Create labels for the categories you deal with most—like expenses, project name, internal, billing, etc. By labeling each email, you’re storing it away and making it easy to find when the time comes to pull it out again.

Unsubscribe, unsubscribe, unsubscribe.

Marketing emails are unavoidable. Companies get our information and we magically end up on an email list—but luckily they’re easy to stop. Simply find the unsubscribe link on the bottom of the email (buried in the small print) and go through the steps. If there are marketing emails you’d prefer to continue receiving, just create a label for these emails to keep them organized in one place.

Create folders for popular actions.

Just like we create labels to store emails away, we create folders for the emails that require action. These folder names could be follow up, projects and archive. Whatever you choose, name them so you know exactly what will be needed with those particular messages—getting them out of your inbox and onto a makeshift to-do list.

Enable automations.

If your email provider is capable, create automations for certain tasks. This could include automatically sending CCed emails to a certain folder or labeling emails containing certain keywords. This function keeps you organized while doing less of the work.

Organize with an app.

Want a virtual assistant to organize your emails for you (even from multiple accounts)? There’s an app for that. Popular applications like Boxer and Organizer help you label and organize your inbox with efficiency.

Use NNTR.

Four words: No need to reply. This phrase will keep your inbox happy and uncrowded.

With the right Chrome extensions by your side, you can do more, in less time, and with fewer hassles. But where exactly should you start? Right here.

MightyText

Whether it’s a work phone or a personal one, transitioning from your phone to your PC and then back to your phone again can leave you unfocused and unproductive. Avoid this with the MightyText Chrome extension. Add this extension to your browser and you can answer and respond to text messages from your computer and even receive incoming call notifications (only works with Android devices).

Noisli

Working with no background noise or with too much of the wrong noise can make it difficult to concentrate, and Noisli gets this. Use this Chrome extension to play “cocktails of soothing ambient sounds” that can help you better focus on the task at hand. Adjust volume directly from the extension and use a complimentary task timer to plan out breaks and productivity sessions strategically.

Google Keep

Google Keep is one of the most efficient to-do apps because it’s simple to use and easy to manage, and with its Chrome extension, things only stand to get more efficient. Add notes or to-dos to your Google Keep account by selecting the Google Keep icon in the top right corner or by right clicking with your mouse. You can add a quote, an image, or a link to the website and include a custom note to go with it.

Liner

Whether you’re writing a blog for your website, tracking down content for social media, or building a report for an important project, Liner can help you keep track of the most important pieces of content. Add this extension to your browser and you can highlight online content straight from the website and even export any highlighted content to Evernote, Facebook, or Twitter.

Momentum

Add Momentum to your Chrome browser and you’ll be greeted with a refreshing quote and stunning image every time you open a new tab. From this screen, you can view the weather and add tasks to a custom to-do list.

Grammarly

This spellchecking Chrome extension won’t just tell you what you’ve spelt wrong. It’ll also give you suggestions on how to write something better and which words would be less vague within the given context. Grammarly will explain what’s wrong and why and then give you the option to make the change or not.

Bad online habits are one thing. But bad technology habits… well, that’s a whole different story. Bad online habits can leave you swimming in malware, hackers, and leaked data – none of which is fun or pleasant. But on the other hand, bad technology habits can leave you in bodily pain, unproductive, and desperate for more time – none of which is easy to come back from. Here are a few bad tech habits to be on the lookout for.

Do you check social media every 60 seconds?

I get it. You’re bored. You’re trying to pass the time. You simply want to see how many likes you’ve gotten on that one selfie you took in the bathroom this morning. But what is this doing for your productivity? Your focus? Your time? Nothing good, I can guarantee that. So stop. Try your best to cut back and limit the number of times you check social media during the workday. If you find this task unusually difficult, there are more than a few apps that can help you minimize all those distractions.

Do you refresh your inbox every few minutes?

Some of us get a lot of emails. Like a lot. Like too much for one person to handle. But whether you check these emails now, five minutes from now, or an hour from now will typically not make a difference in the grand scheme of things. So do yourself a favor and hold off. Set aside 15-20 minutes every hour or so. If you can pull it off, shoot for 15 minutes every two hours. This should help you maintain focus for longer.

Do your eyeballs touch the computer screen?

Do you ever find yourself sitting way too close to the computer screen? And usually you realize this when someone walks up behind you and asks if you need glasses. But then you turn around and you’re already wearing glasses. Don’t do this. Your face should be anywhere from two to three feet away from the computer screen. Sit any closer and it could damage your eyesight and land you in a world of headaches and strained eyes.

Do you stare at your screen for hours at a time?

Sure, your eyes should be at least two feet away from your computer screen… but that’s not the only thing you should keep in mind. You also need to remember to rest your eyes every so often. The rule of thumb here is 20-20-20 – every 20 minutes look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This can help relieve some of that strain your eyes can feel staring at a computer screen all day.

Do you keep the screen at full brightness late at night?

It’s 10:30 at night and you’re fading. But for some reason, that phone is still in your hand and you’re still swiping through Instagram, tweeting up a storm, or lost somewhere inside YouTube… which is no good. You see, those bright lights have been known to make it harder for people to fall asleep at night because the light messes with your melatonin levels and disrupts your sleep cycle. Therefore, if it is late at night and if you are still on your phone, then keep your screen dimly lit and if possible, switched to a warmer spectrum of color. If you have an iPhone this is simple. Just visit your Settings or swipe up from the home screen and tap on Night Shift. You can manually turn the feature on or off, or you can schedule night shift to turn on and off at a specific time every day.

Everyone these days is throwin’ out tech terms, using them in normal conversation like it’s nothing. But do any of these people – or you, for that matter – actually know what these terms mean? If not, here’s a quick list of 8 commonly used tech terms to get your mind prepped.

Web App

A web app is a website that looks and feels like an app. You can access a web app from your browser just like any other website. But unlike traditional websites, a web app allows you to access other components of the site without reloading it. An example of a web app could be Buffer, Dropbox, or the web version of the Microsoft productivity suite.

Front End Development

There’s the backend of a website or app and then there’s the frontend. The frontend is everything a user sees and interacts with, like the fonts, colors, menus, and buttons. Some people like to say that the frontend is what makes the website or app look ‘pretty.’

Keyword

It’s important not to think of your keyword as one word. Your keyword can be as long or as short as you need it to be. This word or set of words should encompass the main idea of your webpage and should be incorporated within your Meta Description. Typically, the longer the keyword is, the more specific it is.

Malware

Any malicious software meaning to do harm to your computer or other connected devices is considered malware. This includes viruses, adware, trojans, and worms.

Long Tail Keywords

When you start getting into very specific keywords, they become long tail keywords. This type of keyword is usually applied to blog posts or other content-heavy material. An example would be going from “potty training animals” to “potty training a small dog in an apartment.”

IT

IT stands for information technology, and it refers to all the hardware and devices within your business that sends, stores, and receives data.

MSP

An MSP stands for managed service provider, and it is a company who fully manages another company’s technology. Within this MSP, there are a handful of technicians who provide their clients with preventative hardware maintenance and routine network monitoring. The goal is to prevent IT issues from occurring and avoid downtime.

Content Marketing

All the content you push online – through social media, vlogging, blogging, cornerstone pieces, and the likes – is considered content marketing. It builds up your brand, focuses on key areas, and can help your business attract new leads and maintain the attention of current consumers.

Phishing attacks are steadily on the rise. Every day, more and more people are duped into opening malicious emails and trusting in its contents. As a result, they give away personal information or find themselves picking up some nasty form of malware. However, avoiding phishing attacks is more manageable than most people think. Here are a few simple tips to follow.

The sender

Look the sender up and down before you take any email seriously. Do you know this person? Does it sound like a legitimate email address? Does this person have any business sending you an email?

And keep in mind, if you do “know” the person, always double-check the email address. Sometimes people will do their research, find someone you know, and do their best to replicate his or her email address. But this email address will usually be off by a letter or two – it’s easy to catch if you take a few seconds to look it over.

The urgency

Emails typically aren’t used for urgent communication. But if an email does contain an urgent message, usually it’s something that’s already been discussed and the email merely serves as a follow-up or reminder.

However, this doesn’t mean you should throw every urgent email into the trash automatically. You should be cautious of them, though. If an email requests a payment or personal information from you, make sure to double-check and triple-check the sender before you do anything.

The grammar

Malicious emails usually aren’t written that well. They’ll probably contain simple grammatical errors that a business professional or popular brand would never make. So if you see something like this in an email, it should set off a silent alarm in your head. However, this isn’t always the case. Phishing emails can be written perfectly, and non-malicious people have been known to make grammatical mistakes.

The subject line

It can be quite difficult to call out a phishing email with nothing but the subject line. That’s a tough one. But what a subject line can do is lend to the overall examination of the email.

Does it feel wonky? Is it off-base? Does it not make sense? Is it too generic? Is it too urgent? Use the answers to these questions to help you determine whether or not an email should be trusted.

The topic

The actual subject of an email can be a surefire indicator of a phishing attack. Does it make sense that this person is talking to you about this topic? And if it does, is the timing appropriate and are the specifics surrounding the topic accurate?

For example, does this email claiming to be from Joe who works at a company you contract with have the authority to ask for payment information? And if he does, do you usually pay invoices this way, to this person, and at this time of the month? If your answer to any of these questions is no, then you’ll need to find a way to verify the request.

The attachments

Occasionally, the point of a phishing email is to make you download a malicious attachment, thereby infecting your computer with malware. Because of this, you should always be incredibly careful when you are thinking about downloading any attachments from your inbox.

Again, it’s best to ask yourself a serious of questions. For example, if you receive a document from a company like Geico or Progressive, ask yourself if this is how they normally do business. Phishing emails pretend to come from large companies all the time, but large companies normally don’t send out documents through email. They’ll either ask you to log into your account to view new information, or they’ll send you snail mail.

As a business professional, knowing the specific technologies that can help your business grow is important. Not all technology will work for you and your coworkers, but the technology that will work can do things like increase efficiency, minimize downtime, and support daily productivity.

Here are a handful of workplace technologies to consider for your daily IT consumption.

Apps

Use the right apps, and your productivity can reach a level you never dreamed possible. With the right string of apps by your side, every part of your workday stands to improve.

Do more, in less time. Take better, more strategic breaks. Get to work quicker and with less hassle. Share and collaborate with ease. It’s all possible with an app… you just need to know where to look and what integrates best with your working style.

Dual Monitors

Just because your computer came with one screen, doesn’t mean you always have to limit yourself to one screen. In fact, if you do a lot of data entry or if you’re consistently involved in multiple activities at once (for example, scheduling, checking-in, and order processing), two or three monitors can improve your productivity and even help reduce on-the-job stress.

Website

Good technology doesn’t just exist to improve your productivity. It also exists to create a more modern business, strengthen your relationship with consumers, and build up your brand. And what better way to do this then with a website? However, these days, if you have a website that is outdated and not mobile-friendly, this can hurt your business more than help it.

With a good website, your business can reduce communication hurdles, limit consumer frustrations, and market your products and brand with ease. But to do this, you’ll need a website that looks good on a phone, is easy to get to, and even easier to maneuver through.

Document Sharing

Documents are an old-fashioned piece of business, but the way you use, share, and move these documents around doesn’t have to be so old-fashioned. Find a more modern way to handle document sharing, and you can improve a whole mess of things, like productivity, collaboration, and even employee morale. With a tool like Dropbox, OneNote, Evernote, or Trello, document sharing will take on an entirely new meaning.

Instant Messaging

Communication is an important aspect of any team, and ultimately, it can have a major impact on how successful your business can become. However, the best business communication is multilayered, and one piece you should definitely incorporate within your multilayered communication strategy is instant messaging.

This method of communication makes it easy to communicate with coworkers – whether they’re sitting across the building from you or across the room. And with a platform like Skype, for example, you can integrate your messaging capabilities with your email, share documents, and even see if someone is available to chat or currently tied up in a meeting.