No such thing as perfect computer programs . . .

Jungle Disk and its reseller-branded My Secure Backup are the best solution currently available for automatic, off-site, encrypted computer backup. There are several factors that go into my judgment of this fact, which I'm always happy to discuss. Suffice it to say that it is the only one of its kind.

That said, it's not perfect, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the upgrade from version 3.14 to version 3.16 of the Windows version.

During this upgrade, on approximately 5% of machines, the following will be the last screen shown to the user:

Unfortunately (and I've told them this) unless one reads that message (who reads messages these days? Well, everyone should, but few actually do) one won't know there was a problem with the upgrade. Further, and even more unfortunately, the thing this message does not tell the user is that Jungle Disk is now no longer installed, since the first step in the upgrade is to remove the previous version! All of the settings are there, and reinstalling the Jungle Disk software will pick up those settings and continue backups and other Jungle Disk functions uninterrupted.

Reinstalling the Jungle Disk client is not difficult, but neither is it completely easy. As with the initial setup, it's simple, if one knows how. If you notice the message above, and/or if you notice that the Jungle Disk icon: or the My Secure Backup icon:

that was down by the clock is now missing, let me know and I'll correct this.

Cheers,

Don

Whither "home" and "business" phones in the age of cellular?

There is certainly a change under way in area of telephone usage. It's not new, but it is accelerating, and it affects decisions about "home phone" acquisition and usage as well as "business phone" acquisition and usage.

The game changer is, of course, cell phones. Cell phones (and in recent years smartphones, which accelerate the discussion) and their corresponding cellular plans have key characteristics:

1. They're always with us.
2. The price gap between limited and unlimited plans is closing.
3. Even with limited plans, there are unlimited segments (cell-to-cell calls) and timeframes ("free nights and weekends").
4. "Long Distance" is included at no additional charge.
5. Younger people, more and more as the years go by, are using cell phones exclusively - not even bothering to have a "home phone".

This trend affects home phone usage patterns dramatically, but it also affects business decisions around phone technology selection and use.

Our topic, then: how a business decides what to do about phone service.

Note: I'm talking about InterConnected Technologies' target market here: small businesses with fewer than 20 computer users. The considerations, requirements and costs can be significantly different for a larger business.

Decision Point	Key Question	Discussion	Example
Business number vs. cell phones	Do we need a business number for in-bound calls, or do we just use cell phones?	More and more people and small businesses are just using cell phones for communication, foregoing home and business lines altogether. There are several advantages (cost avoidance, free calls to other cell phones, "free" long distance), and several disadvantages (no “business image”, no ability to share calls).	I chose to use a hosted, virtual phone service for InterConnected Technologies to present a professional image and separate out, to some extent, business calls from personal calls.
Advanced call routing functions	Do we need routing of calls to each employee, or can we just have one phone ring, and take a voicemail message if no one answers?	A simple traditional phone line or VOIP (like Comcast or Vonage) line that rings a single phone in a single location, and takes a message if needed, may be suitable. If a “big business image” is important, then the added features of “automated attendant” functions may be preferable: transferring to extensions, ringing individual cell phones or desk phones, and so on.	I chose a provider that allows me to have business calls go to a business number, but have those calls routed to any phone I choose. In recent years the target of those calls has become almost exclusively my cell phone, since I use the cell phone for almost all calls. That said, when and if I need to route calls to another number (temporary office, or land line in a location lackng cell service), I can.
Mobile device call initiation	Do we need to receive AND make calls from the business number on our cell phones, or just receive calls at the business number(s)?	Some hosted PBX providers have Android and iPhone/iPad apps that allow users to make calls from a mobile device as though they were calling from the business line.	My current service does not offer this. When I make calls to clients, they see my personal cell phone number on callerid, which can lead, and has led, to some confusion on their part.
Limited vs. Unlimited	Can we make due with a limited number of call minutes, or do we need unlimited minutes?	Most hosted PBX plans have tiered offerings that increase in cost when the number of included minutes increases, and then have a substantial adder if the user wants “unlimited” minutes. Which option fits best depends on how the business line will be used, and how calls will be taken and initiated.	My choice here has been to always get an unlimited plan, even with the price premium, because I make a large number of calls, and don’t want to worry about going over my quota and paying high overage charges.
Toll free number	Do we need a toll-free number, or will a local area code suffice?	800 numbers were once the gold standard in incoming business calls: businesses cared enough to pay for a line for the free use of their clients. With cellular and VOIP providers (including Comcast and Vonage) including at least US-wide long distance in their plans at no additional cost (or at least a fixed monthly cost), this is becoming a less important service, especially for younger clients who think nothing of calling an out of state number, since there is often no additional cost for doing this vs. calling in-state.	I chose not to pursue this, primarily because I don’t have a large number of callers from out of state. As my California and Oregon client base has grown, I’ve considered this, but the trend toward cell and VOIP service usage means that my clients really don’t care enough about this to warrant the extra cost to me of an 800 number.
Specific features	Are other specific features needed?	This is a catch-all of smaller, specific features that some may need and some may not. The item above that deals with mobile apps is a larger example of this type of feature – big enough to warrant its own discussion above. There are lots of little features that are similar, but narrower of scope.	In our example, I want to be able to send and receive text messages to and from clients on my business line using my cell phone. My current service does not yet provide this; nor does it provide Android-based outbound calling discussed above. The combination of these two deficiencies has led to confusion on the part of some of my clients who have seen the callerid of my cell phone, but know my business line, and tried to text my business line, only to be frustrated by those texts never being received.

As always, InterConnected Technologies can adapt this type of high-level understanding to a specific solution for any business.  Call if you need more!

Android, the Journey Continues

When last we left our hero, he was considering switching to Verizon. The reason: to see if improved signal strength would lead to increased battery life. The Verdict? Yes, it seemed to make somewhat of a difference.

The followup: still on Verizon, and having has rather an unsatisfactory experience with the HTC Rezound (the combination of slightly weak Sprint coverage here and weak Bluetooth was deadly for me), I'm VERY happy with the Droid Razr Maxx on Verizon.

This may stop my wandering Android ways, for a time. The solid function, great ergonomics and amazing battery life of the Razr Maxx (even the regular Razr wasn't bad) will keep me happy, for awhile. This is the best Android phone yet.

More when I have more time.

Exchange Hosting clients - if you are having problems sending email to InterConnected.com

Dear Wonderful Exchange clients,

I've recently moved InterConnected.com's Exchange service to a new provider called Rackspace.

I have always admired Rackspace, and now that their Exchange service is roughly comparable in price to our current provider, Exchange Hosting, I undertook to investigate it further by experimenting on myself. One consequence of this for any of my clients whose Exchange service is still with Exchange Hosting (or any other client of Exchange Hosting who has sent email to InterConnected.com in the past) is that the remembered email address in the Nickname file of Outlook is no longer correct.

The Nickname file is that which, in all versions of Outlook prior to 2010, remembered each and every email address to which the user sent an email, regardless of whether or not the user put that email address in his/her Outlook Contacts. It saves whatever you type, whether or not the email address is correct. In this particular circumstance, as with a few others, the Nickname file is remembering things when we'd rather it didn't: things that are actually preventing some people from being able to send emails to InterConnected.com. To fix this, if you receive an error sending an email to an email address at InterConnected.com: On any machine where you're seeing the problem sending such an email, open a new email, start typing the email address that is giving you problems (Ferguson@interconnected.com, support@interconnected.com, etc.), and then delete the auto-popup that includes that email address. This is the thing stored in the nickname file, and it's wrong. Once you delete it, you can either type in the correct email address (and yes, Outlook will remember that in the nickname file) or select it from your address book, if it's in there.

In general it is my recommendation, and that of Microsoft, that you add people with whom you correspond to the Outlook Contacts folder, keeping their information, including email addresses, up to date in there, rather than relying on the Nickname file (or Suggested Contacts in Outlook 2010)

Here's a visual. The item circled in blue is what I'd be looking to delete in this case:

This method can also come in handy of you've ever typed in an incorrect email address and had Outlook remember it. You can delete the incorrecly-typed address this same way!

Please contact me if you need assistance with this.

Cheers,

Don

Browser wars - an update for 2011

Back in 2010 I posted the results of these folks latest testing. Here is an update.

'Nuff said.

http://www.nsslabs.com/assets/noreg-reports/2011/nss%20labs_q3_2011_browsersem%20GLOBAL-FINAL.pdf

I use Internet Explorer 9 when I can, and Firefox with I have to. NO other browsers allowed.