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Bits & Bytes Gazette – Nov 2013

ITS Newsletter – Pass IT On

November 2013

Our days are getting a little bit shorter and colder, but with this amazing weather we can’t really complain. We still get the luxury of seeing stunning autumn colors cover our beautiful city. Lots of changes have been happening in the tech world recently, but I would have to say the biggest gossip is the changes with Blackberry. They have been put up for sale and also have released their exclusive instant messaging to more users. Also in this newsletter, is a little warning of a nasty ransomware virus that has been going around. Happy reading!

What’s in Novembers’ Newsletter?:

· BBM available for Android and Apple

· ITS Warning of virus mail

· Mavericks OS 10.9

· Windows 8.1

· XBOX1 vs. PS4

· Deal of the Month

· Tech Tip of the Month

· This Month in Tech History

· November Events

BBM available for Android and Apple:

This past month we have seen some big changes at Blackberry. Still on the market to be bought and they have released BBM to other smartphones. The free instant messaging app from Blackberry has been quite a hit, with millions of downloads in the first week, and still going strong. The have currently only released the app to iOS and Android users, but pretty sure it will be rolled out across all platforms. There have been some compatibility issues and other glitches, but it is slowly getting better for the new comers. Hopefully on the next update from Blackberry it will give all users the full functionality of the app, so soon enough video chat and voice messaging will be available. Blackberry is also coming out with Blackberry Channels, a ‘social engagement platform’. This will allow users to connect with groups, artists, business, and brands. This is still in the making and more information will be available soon.

Check out the links below for more information on Blackberry and BBM

· http://mobilesyrup.com/2013/10/26/bbm-channels-to-exit-beta-soon-plus-bbm-voice-and-video-calling-coming-to-android-and-ios-users-within-months/

· http://n4bb.com/goodbye-bbm-line-hello-100-million-users/

· http://www.phonearena.com/news/BlackBerry-working-on-a-fix-for-BBM-for-iOS-bogus-reviews-found-on-Google-Play-Store_id48643

· http://www.talkandroid.com/181070-bbm-channels-voice-and-video-coming-to-bbm-for-android-soon/

· http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/124465-blackberry-acquisition-top-suitors-to-buy-out-the-company

OS X 10.9 Mavericks:

More good news from Apple this month is the release of Mavericks; Apple’s 10^th operating system. So, what’s new? Well this time there are more than 200 new features than the previous Mountain Lion, lots of tweaks and integration between apps and devices, Maps and iBooks too. But the best thing is that it is available for free for anyone that has a compatible operating system, which is a first for Apple to do for their upgrades.

Check out videos, reviews, and more information here.

http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/os-x-10-9-what-we-want-to-see-from-apple-s-new-mac-os-1148525

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2013/10/22/apple-release-os-x-10-9-mavericks/

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/review/2303413/mac-os-x-109-mavericks-review

Windows 8.1:

This month marks Windows 28^th anniversary, Microsoft’s operating system. When Windows 8 came out there were lots of changes such as the removal of the ‘start’ button and the touch-screen interface. Microsoft has returned the ‘start’ button for all those users who have been accustomed to it for so long. They have also changed the interface so it still is tablet ‘touch-screen’ friendly, but on desktops; it still holds the more classic look. This new upgrade is free for current users of Windows 8 and is available to download. Computers being sold with Windows 8.1 are available, as well as stand-alone copies of the software. Part of Microsoft’s new plan is to begin releasing upgrades more frequently to comply with the current industry trends where upgrades/new products/ improvements are constantly being offered instead of just once a year.

Check out videos, reviews, and more information here.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/windows-8-1-released-by-microsoft-1.2100781

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57607810-75/microsofts-windows-8.1-arrives-a-look-back-and-ahead/

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/operating-systems/windows-8-1-1161745/review

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2425875,00.asp

Xbox One vs. PS4

It seems kind of early, but Christmas is coming up and you have to start thinking about what to get for the kids, teenagers, or big-kid adults. 2 of the biggest names in video games have released new consoles: Xbox- with Xbox 1 & Sony- with Play Station 4. Which one is better? Well it depends what the person prefers. The Xbox is supposed to be an all-in-one console, so you do not need anything else, live streaming, voice control, and an enhanced Kinect (motion-sensor remote). PS4 has concentrated their improvements on games, amazing graphics, and the removable and upgradable hard drive. Check out a few comparisons with the links below to see which would be the perfect gift for someone… or yourself.

http://ca.ign.com/wikis/xbox-one/PS4_vs._Xbox_One_vs._Wii_U_Comparison_Chart

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/ps4-vs-xbox,review-1844-9.html

http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/ps4-vs-xbox-720-which-is-better-1127315

ITS Warning of virus mail:

I’m sure most of you would have received an email from our help desk within the last couple of weeks, but for those of you who haven’t, please read below the alert.

This is an important message from ITS Consulting Inc.

There is a particularly nasty piece of malware in the wild that, if it infects your computer, can encrypt your data and try to force you to pay a ransom to get the data back.

It currently looks like this.

If you see this, unfortunately it is already too late.

A detailed article on the malware is located here:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/cryptolocker-ransomware-information

As in all cases with malware, the most important defense is prevention so beyond having current and functional anti-virus software protecting you, you MUST remain vigilant about not opening unknown attachments or otherwise allowing unknown programs to run.

If you do manage to get infected by this malware, please contact us right away and we will do what we can to try and recover any encrypted data.

Please contact our office via help(at)itsmail(dot)ca or 604-484-4300 if you have any questions or concerns.

Deal of the Month:

Each month we will supply you with a product that we believe is a great deal and may suit your business or personal needs. This is an opportunity for you to save time and energy shopping around for what’s best at the best price, because we have done it for you!

Corsair Flash Voyager GT CMFVYGT3A-64GB 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive

Price: $ 98.00

*Tax and Shipping not included

If you are interested please contact the sales team at https://www.itsconsultinginc.ca/contact/

Tech Tip of the Month:

Brought to you by Alandale Training a great resource online for tips and on-site computer training courses in Vancouver, BC. Visit their site at www.alandaletraining.com.

Putting a second Excel workbook on a second monitor

If you are working with two Word documents and you have two monitors, it can be useful to put one Word window on each monitor so you can see both documents at the same time. Most Windows programs open each file in a new window so it’s easy to arrange them on your monitors the way you want.

Excel is the exception to this rule. Each workbook you open is part of the Excel window rather than having a window of its own. If you want to put two workbooks on two monitors, you’ll need to open Excel twice.

In Windows 7, the quickest way of doing this is to open Excel then press Shift as you click on the Excel task bar button. This opens a second Excel window and you can then get the workbook you want and put one Excel window on each monitor.

In Windows XP, you’ll need to open Excel in the usual way both times.

If you liked this tip click here to join the Alandale Training Mailing List to receive more great tech tips.

This Month in Tech History:

· November 4^th 1879: – Ka-Ching! The World’s First Cash Register

· November 29^th 1972:- Pong, a Game Any Drunk Can Play

· November 20^th 1985: – Windows 1.0 is released

· November 10th 1983:- Computer ‘Virus’ Is Born

· November 23^rd 1963: –Doctor Who Materializes on BBC

November Events:

· November 10, 2013- Comedy Stands for Education

· November 20, 2013- Chowder Chowdown

· November 22, 2013- Vancouver Christmas Market

· November 02, 2013- Vancouver Winter Farmers’ Market

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Bits & Bytes Gazette – Oct 2013

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ITS Newsletter – Pass IT On

Welcome back to RainCouver. It’s time again to hide away indoors with all our tech toys and gadgets, multi-functional TV’s, and multi-purpose tablets. It’s a great way to pass the time, stay warm, and also a great way to pack on the pounds. This newsletter we are going to give you some inspiration to keep that cold weather weight away, and combine out love of gadgets, tech, and some ‘healthy’ apps.

October 2013

What’s in Octobers’ Newsletter:
·         Using Tech to Stay Healthy
·         Comings and Goings
·         Deal of the Month
·         Tech Tip of the Month
·         This Month in Tech History
·         October Events

Using Technology to Stay Healthy:

Maybe you have a gym membership, but you need more motivation? Or you are an avid runner, but need some inspiration? Or maybe you like the comfort of your own home? Or you want to make your workplace a little bit healthier? Here are some of the more popular ways of keeping healthy using modern technology and having no excuses. If you like your electronics, or want some new apps, look below.

Electronics/ gadgets:

Nutribullet: This wonderful compact little blender can be stored at work or at home, and is powerful enough to give you a smooth drink every time. Smoothies and shakes don’t need to be boring, think of your favorite flavours and throw them in. A couple of our favorite smoothies for work are:

The Refresher: Spinach, cucumber, avocado, mango, ice and water. The prominent flavours would be the cucumber in mango, so add to your liking.

Lunch time snack: handful of kale and spinach, ¼ avocado, 2.5” cucumber, pear, 2 spoons of flax/hemp/chia seeds, 1/3 banana, 4 ice cubes, ½ cup water. If it’s too thick, just add more water until your desired texture.

Breakfast shake: ½ banana, handful of frozen berries, ½ cup soy milk, ½ protein powder.

Samsung Smart TV’s: I guess this is more the app that offers the fitness, but if you have sprung for one of these multi-functional TV with the Smart Hub, you should take advantage of Fitness VOD . You get to make your own profile, it saves what you did before, and it uses the camera to show you a mirror image of yourself during the workout to make sure you have the correct position for the exercises. There is an extensive amount of videos and exercises to choose from to keep your interest and all from the comfort of your home.

Basis B1: With sensors on the back, this convenient watch offers a more sophisticated data analysis. It gathers your information on perspiration, skin temperature, heart rate, and steps. It also monitors your habits and helps you work toward goals. Water-resistant so you can keep it on 24/7, except while swimming. $199.00

Apps/Programs:

Whole Living Smoothies: Eating healthy and yummy can be hard at times, so for people on the go, this convenient little app gives you ideas and a reason to put that Nutribullet to work. $1.99 on iTunes

Pocket Yoga: Nifty little app that can be used at home, gym, or where ever you are. Choose between different practices, different durations and different difficulty levels. Whatever your skill level and time availability there’s something for you. $2.99

Strava: This app not only keeps detailed track of your running, biking, or cross training activities, but also allows you to compare and see your progress. It also gives you challenges, and offers you a chance to ‘follow’ people and compete against them. *FREE* (can pay for more features, but a lot is inc)

MyFitnessPal: The best calorie counter on the market for the best price. Set a daily calorie goal, and then record your daily food and exercise to make sure you stay on track. Also gives you full mobile access to your MyFitnessPal.com account, so you can log your food and exercise from anywhere, at any time. All changes made on your phone will be synchronized with our website and vice versa. *FREE*

Keas: This social wellness platform allows companies to pick health goals and compete against each other to lose weight and get in shape, incentivized by a reward system which offers both real and virtual prizes. Contact KEAS sales team direct for pricing.
Gympact: The twist with this app is that the key to achieving your health and fitness goals revolves around negative motivation. If you don’t got to your workout/check in at the gym, then you have to fork out the cash. Price is based on how much you skip out!

Comings and Goings:

At the beginning of this month we say a sad farewell to one of our technical staff Tarn Kataria. He has worked for ITS just under a year and is ready to take on a new challenge assisting in the development of the Evergreen line. We wish him plenty of luck and support.

Deal of the Month:

Each month we will supply you with a product that we believe is a great deal and may suit your business or personal needs. This is an opportunity for you to save time and energy shopping around for what’s best at the best price, because we have done it for you!

Logitech Z313 2.1 25W Speaker System With Headphone Jack Control Pod & Compact Subwoofer

Price: $ 69.99
*Tax and Shipping not included
If you are interested please contact the sales team at sales@itsmail.ca

Tech Tip of the Month:

Brought to you by Alandale Training a great resource online for tips and on-site computer training courses in Vancouver, BC. Visit their site at www.alandaletraining.com.

Reopen a recently closed tab in Internet Explorer

So you are surfing away on the web with lots of tabs open in your browser window (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome). You decide to clean things up a bit by closing some of the tabs. Accidentally you close the wrong tab. Oops!   So what do you do?

Press Ctrl+Shift+T to reopen the tab you just closed.

If you liked this tip click here to join the Alandale Training Mailing List to receive more great tech tips.

This Month in Tech History:
·         October 1985- Nintendo is launched!!
·         October 1^st 1982 – Sony sells the first CD players to the public
·         October 14^th 1947- First person to fly faster than the speed of sound
·         October 25^th 1955- The first domestic microwave oven is introduced

October Events:
·         Vancouver Film Festival- Sept 26^th – Oct 11^th 2013
·         9^th Annual Taste of Yaletown – Oct 16^th – 27^th 2013
·         Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival- Oct 22^nd -27^th 2013
·         Fright Nights at the PNE – Oct 17^th – Oct 31^st 2013

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September Newsletter 2013

ITS Newsletter – Pass IT On

Summer has seem to come and gone in a flash and somehow it is already September, which we all know means that is back to school time. Whether you’re planning on going back to school or know someone who is, in this month’s newsletter we’re focusing on gadgets that might make the transition a little easier with some helpful gadgets and apps.

September 2013

What’s in September’s Newsletter:

· Nexus 7 Tablet

· Take Note

· Comings and Goings

· Deal of the Month

· Tech Tip of the Month

· This Month in Tech History

· September Events

Nexus 7 Tablet:

Thinking of a new tablet? Check out the recently released Google’s Nexus 7 tablet.

This new 7”, HD, tablet give you everything that matters and what you would expect from a tablet, and it is one of the most competitive prices starting at $229.00. One of the most comparable items on the market now would be the iPad mini which is starting at $559.00.

The Nexus 7 sports the latest version of the ever popular Android operating system, Jelly Bean, and made for Google Play giving you access to over 600,000 apps and games, a selection of over 4 million eBooks and thousands of movies.

This lightweight gem makes it perfect for every member of the family for most types of trips, just pick up and go whether you are an avid YouTube viewer, love your reading, or have work to catch up on, the easy on the eyes screen give you great HD quality, with crisp text.

Specs:

Weight: 0.64lbs (290g)

Size: 7.81 x 4.72 x 0.41 inches (198.5 x 120 x 10.45 mm)

Battery: Up to 10 hours- Standby : 82 hours

Screen: 7” – 323 pixels/inch – 1280 x 800 high-resolution display

Touchscreen: Multi- touch

Camera: 1.2 Mega pixel

Features: Light sensor, Proximity sensor, Scratch-resistant glass

Pre-loaded software: Hangouts; Google+; Google Earth; Currents; Face Unlock; Gmail; Google Play; Google Play Music; Google Search

Check out what people are saying about it:

CTV News Review

Google description

Android Authority Review

Take Note:

Livescribe Sky, a smartpen that allows the user to write notes and then wirelessly save them on the cloud or on a mobile device. No more losing half of your lecture notes or spilling coffee all over them, rendering them illegible, hurray! Sky also has a camera and a microphone allowing you save pictures, videos, and audio files to go along with your notes, and uses optical character recognition of your handwriting to make it easy to search through later. The price tag isn’t cheap however, but if you’re someone who spends a lot of time taking notes it may be well worth the cost. Learn more about Livescribe here.

If handwritten note taking isn’t for you, there are plenty of apps that allow you to save, share, edit, and organize typed notes onto your mobile devices. Evernote is by far the most effective, and is the app that works with Livescribe. There are however an endless array of note taking apps; the most popular being Evernote, Google Keep, OneNote, and Simplenote. Here’s a comparison of the best.

Comings and Goings:

These past months we have been seeing some big changes to the ITS family.

As many of you already know Derek Petersen has stepped down as a business owner of ITS to move him and his family to Belize, which has for some time been a dream of theirs. Derek hasn’t fully left ITS though and has stayed on to remotely manage our helpdesk, from what I assume is a hammock on the beach with a very long Ethernet cable connected to a laptop.

At the beginning of this month we will be saying goodbye to an exceptional member of our team. Alexandra Verkuil-Wood is leaving us after 4 years of keeping the ITS team in check. She is pursuing her goal of becoming an interior designer with a design firm in North Vancouver. She will be greatly missed by all the staff here at ITS and we wish her the best of luck for the future.

Replacing her as our administrative assistant is Sara Ekuba who joins us after spending a few years in England. She has been working in the hospitality/administration industry for some time now and will be bringing her organizational skills and cheerfulness to the team.

We wish the Petersen’s and Alexandra the best of luck in their future and hope that you will all help us welcome Sara to ITS.

Deal of the Month:

WD My Passport 1TB Portable External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0 (Black)

Price: $ 115.00

*Tax and Shipping not included

If you are interested please contact the sales team at

Tech Tip of the Month:

Brought to you by Alandale Training a great resource online for tips and on-site computer training courses in Vancouver, BC. Visit their site at www.alandaletraining.com.

When you spell check an email, document, spreadsheet or presentation, do you find yourself ignoring the same names and technical terms over and over again? Rather than ignoring them each time, why not add them to the dictionary. Then the spell checker will not flag them as being misspelled and you’ll finish spell checking more quickly.

To add a word to the dictionary when running the Spell Checker, click on the Add to Dictionary button (Add button in earlier versions).

If you liked this tip click here to join the Alandale Training Mailing List to receive more great tech tips.

This Month in Tech History:

· September 8, 1930 – Scotch Tape invented

· September 21, 1937 – The Hobbit is published

· September, 1995 – eBay is founded

September Events:

· September 7 – Fiesta Mexico Independencia

· September 7 – 8 – Luxury Supercar Weekend

· September 8 – National Grandparent’s Day

· September 19 – International Talk Like A Pirate Day

· September 26 – October 11 – Vancouver International Film Festival

Thanks for reading! Hope you have a great September!

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