LANcom Technology Blog

Ever suffered the frustration of misplacing your cell phone charger? Well soon thanks to a new initiative you might be able to charge your cell phone using any available charger.

The GSM association is leading an initiative, backed by a number of manufacturers and operators, which aims to have most phones supporting a universal charger by January 2012. Manufacturers who are members include LG, Motorola, Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

Not only will this be helpful to all cell phone users it will also reduce waste as fewer charges will need to be thrown away.

It is expected that the first of these universal charges will ship this year. To learn more about this from Computer World click here.

From the end of March onwards LANcom will be an authorised reseller of the VoiceCenter Microsoft Response Point phone system. This is a phone system designed with small business in mind and as such ease of use and manageability play a big part in what makes it great.

Microsoft Response Point’s key features include:

1. A user friendly management console which makes it easy to set up new phones, change preferences for voicemail or call handling, and create call distribution lists. So as your business grows your phone system can easily grow too and if you move locations your phone system easily moves with you.

    

2. Voice commands. All you have to do is press the auto-attendant button on your phone and tell the system what to do. Call anyone in the company directory or in your Microsoft Outlook just by saying their name. You can also transfer, put on hold, and retrieve calls this way too. For example you could just say ‘transfer my call to Joe’ and the system will do it, you no longer need to remember or look up extensions.

    

3. A customisable automated receptionist. You can choose to have your calls answered by a fully customisable automated receptionist which uses voice recognition technology. You can record your company message and caller options using your own voice and callers can simply ask for the option or person they want for the system to put them through.

    

4. Manage your voicemail through Outlook. You can retrieve, forward, and archive voicemail either through your phone or through Microsoft Outlook

    

5. Incoming call notifications. You can receive incoming call notifications on your pc, letting you know you are receiving a call and from whom.

We have a lot of experience in voice over IP technology (VoIP), but are just now branching out to include this Microsoft Response Point system. If you would like to learn more about how LANcom could implement this technology in your business please contact us at info@lancom.co.nz

If you would like to learn more about Response Point from the Microsoft website click here.

A while ago on this blog we looked at Google Notebook a free tool that allows you to collect and organise clips of information you find while searching the web (click here to read more). Well Microsoft has recently released a similar tool that might be even better called Thumbtack.

With Thumbtack you can browse the web and save clips of information such as text, images, and links without having to leave the page you’re on. When you find something you want to save, some text and a picture for example, you just highlight what you want to save and click your Collect with Thumbtack bookmarklet. A pop up box will open showing you your selection and allowing you to choose which collection of clips you want to save it too, and to tag it with keywords if you would like.

With Thumbtack you can:

1. Have multiple collections so you can store information on different topics in different places. You can even drag and drop clips from one collection into another.
2. Get access to your collections from any computer with the internet.
3. Easily find the page where the information came from. Every note you add while searching the web includes a link back to the page it came from.
4. Share your collections with others. You can invite others by email to view and edit a collection or make a collection public so anyone on the net can see it.
5. Add comments to clips or collections and email individual clips to others.
6. Search for a particular clip using the search box.
7. View your clips in different ways including a list view, grid view, and canvas view.

So what cool features does it have that Google Notebook doesn’t?

Well to start with there is the ability to view your clips of information it different ways. The canvas view, seen below, allows you to see a summery of each clip in a box which you can move around the screen and place where you like. You can place clips that are related next to each other or on top of one another. This could be a particularly useful way of sorting information for very visual people.

Another cool thing about Thumbtack is the gadgets. When you apply a gadget to a collection it appears in the right side bar of the Thumbtack screen and can enhance the way you view your collection. For example the Address gadget will automatically extract any addresses that appear in your clips of information and display them on a map. This feature would be great if you were looking at different properties to rent or buy. There are currently only four gadgets but its likely more will be added over time.

Thumbtack is free to use and works in both Internet Explorer and Firefox. To use this service you need a Windows Live ID, if you have a hotmail account you will already have one but you can also get one from here.

To learn more about Thumbtack click here.

Someone sent you a link your not too sure about? If there is a webpage that you really want to visit, but you’re worried that it may be host to a virus or spyware, here’s a quick way you can check it without putting your computer at risk.

OnlineLinkScan is free online tool that scans URLs for viruses, trojan horses, spyware and other malware and lets you know if it detects any. All you have to do is paste the link into the OnlineLinkScan box and click Scan (no registration required).

While OnlineLinkScan won’t pick up everything in most cases it should be able to tell you if a link is unsafe.

To visit the OnlineLinkScan site click here.

Hat tip to Makeuseof.com for the idea for this post.

LANcom is soon to offer a new backup and business continuity solution which means you could finally throw your tapes away. Not only will it deliver faster recovery after a server failure but it covers you for business continuity if you lose your office in a disaster.

This solution can recover lost files in minutes, recover a failed server in two-four hours, and can give you access to your data and applications within 24-48 hours of a disaster that destroys your office.

Here’s how it works

Firstly your data is backed up to a local machine that lives on your network. If your server fails, using virtualisation technology, it can be recovered to this on-site appliance which can run as a temporary solution until you have a server up and running again.

If your server fails

Secondly your data is also backed up over the internet using 256bit encryption to two separate locations in the US. If you lose your office to a disaster our team in the US can recover your entire network offsite and allow you remote access to it through any computer with the internet.

If you lose your office to a disaster

The great thing about this service is that in the event of a disaster or a server failure we will be able to have critical programs up and running in a fraction of the time it would take using conventional tape or remote data backup services.

Keep watching this blog for the full release of this new backup and business continuity solution in the next few weeks.

Need some background noise to help you relax, or something to drown out other noises while you work? Here are three sites that could help.

1. SimplyNoise - SimplyNoise has three different types of noise for you to choose from: white noise, pink noise, or red noise. Once you have found the type of noise that suits you, and set it to the right level, you can leave it running in the background of your computer or download it and add it to your iPod. To visit this site click here.
2. Sound Sleeping – This site allows you to create your own ambient sound by choosing and combining sounds. You could for example combine the sounds of bird song and the ocean, or rain and wind chimes. To visit this site click here.
3. iSerenity - While iSerenity has a number of background noises you’re likely to expect, such as rain and bubbling brook, it also has a number of slightly stranger background noises you might enjoy. Some of these sounds include: a vacuum cleaner, a purring cat, a type writer, and the sound of a heart beating. To visit this site click here

Previously on this blog we covered PDF Split and Merge Basic a free to download tool that allows you to spilt and merge PDF files, but if you’re just looking to quickly merge a few PDF files together not separate any then here is a faster way.

Rather than downloading and installing the PDF Split and Merge software you could go to MergePDF.net. MergePDF.net allows you to quickly merge up to 10 PDF files together. All you need to do is pick the PDF files in the order you would like them to be merged and then click Merge PDF!

To visit the mergePDF.net click here.