You can view the July Newsletter here.

Not many business owners are aware that since 2002 almost all office copy machines and scanners contain a standard hard drive similar to an ordinary desktop computer or hard drive. This hard drive essentially stores every single scan to memory.

Take a look at the video below for more information. If you have any questions relating to hard drive data destruction please call us on 01-8424114.

 You can view the June Newsletter here.

The scam: Person of Indian extraction calls a home user claiming to be from Microsoft declaring that the users pc is infected, slow, sending out spam, and basically needs to be repaired. They then proceed very forcefully to try and direct the user to a website where they will remote on to their computer and ‘repair’ the problems for which they have suggested exist. They use strong misleading language, switching to and from their supervisors,  and any means necessary to try to extract or extort up to €159 from their victim. They’ll use language like; “Your licensing is invalid”, “You’re sending out Viruses”, etc,etc.

This is occurring all around the country at the moment from what I can tell. I know of 5-10 people who have been approached by this company in the last 3-4 weeks. Ironically, we have also received over 10 phone calls from this company who are amazingly brazen and bully-like in their approach. One of our customers was directed to the Microsoft Event Viewer  in an attempt to point out their terrible pc plight. The Event Viewer is, even at the best of times loaded with of errors, and any trip here is going to show such messages. When or if they call you, HANG UP and don’t let them waste your time. These people should be avoided at all times for various reasons;

1. You don’t know who they are or what they are going to do with your pc once they gain control of it.
2. You don’t know how much fun they’re going to have on your credit card.
3. €159 for a Remote IT Repair Service would be a rip-off even in Celtic Tiger Ireland. We provide the service ourselves (Commercial Only) for just €65.

Their link is here:

-          The website looks like something from the 80’s – Clue 1
-           5 international phone numbers and no business address – Clue 2

Need anymore. Hope not! The Clue is in the Cold Call..

If you’re in charge of the marketing in your company, there are a couple of websites you may find useful which will empower you to add a degree of professionalism to the material you send out. It’s amazing how effective a stock photo can be when used properly. 

http://www.istockphoto.com (Paid)
http://www.shutterstock.com/ (Paid)
http://www.freefoto.com/ (Free)
http://www.imagefile.ie (Paid)
http://www.bigstockphoto.com/ (Paid)
http://www.everystockphoto.com (Search Engine)

 You can view the May Newsletter here.

Here’s another Phishing scam doing the rounds. It caught my eye because I can imagine a few people being caught out by it. Even the fake link (see image below)  requires a second glance to be sure it’s not actually Google who are contacting you.

There is no doubt that the iPhone is an industry changer. I would debate that point with anyone who’d try to deny it. While there are a few new competitors to the market and the Google Android is circling the iPhone wagons, I’d safely say that it will be around for a long time. I love my iPhone by the way!

That said, here’s my Top 10 iWishlist..

Dear Steve Jobs,

1. Tethering should be standard. I find it difficult to believe that Apple can’t enforce it over respective carriers.

2. Radio would be nice.

3. Flash. Steve recently stated that Flash was too proprietary for the iPhone. He also said that it uses up too much battery and processor power. Proprietary? As I said in a recent tweet “POT-KETTLE-BLACK!”. Whatever happened to user choice Steve? And battery? See point 5.

4. Multitasking is badly needed. I believe it’s due out on iPhone 4 but we’ll have to wait and see.

5. Battery is rubbish. Please fix Stevo. I know battery technology hasn’t changed much over the last few years but if anyone can get past this, Apple can. iPhone users have to seek out charging points like smokers do smoking areas. A removable battery might be the only option here.

6. Wireless Synchronisation of iTunes. I shouldn’t have to jailbreak my phone to get this to work.

7. Voice dialling or voice activated functionality. I think Apple is already very far behind in this area. Perhaps, they don’t rate it as an important feature but there are many who see it as a prerequisite.

8. iPDA. At present there are 3 variations of the iPhone family with a 4^th due out this summer. Apple should be looking at getting in the PDA market with different styles of what is essentially the same phone. For example, many have argued that a proper slide-out keyboard or pen/stylus option would draw in a vast new Apple Fanbase.

9. Ok to be honest, at reaching number 9, I’m clutching at straws because everything else I’d be looking for is due out in the next iPhone as far as I’m aware. I’ll add an expansion slot to the list just to fill it. Why did I have to say Top 10!

10. At number Ten, I’m tempted to add the battery again as it’s a real bone of contention with me. I’ll finish up with a simple desire to see Apple open up the iPhone so that developers can create even more cools apps without the strict developer approval process currently imposed. Does Apple really need to control the user app experience?

 You can view the April Newsletter here.

We’ve a new radio advert going live next week on LMFM. Have a listen below.