As you may know, Apple released it's 3.0 firmware update just two days ago. The new features not only please the millions of current iPhone customers, but disarm the opposition by taking most of the last valid arguments AGAINST owning an iPhone they have left!


In all seriousness, the reviews have been very positive over the new features which include an improved calendar, enhanced stock application and the addition of a voice recorder (one of my personal favorites). Below is a condensed list of major additions, improvements and changes reported on the Apple website:

• Cut / Copy / Paste: Quickly and easily cut, copy and paste text from application to application. Select entire blocks of text or images from the web, too.
• Landscape Keyboard: Rotate iPhone to use the larger keyboard in Mail, Messages, Notes and Safari.
• MMS: Send MMS messages that include audio, photos, contact info and video taken straight from your phone.
• Spotlight Search: In one place, find anything on your phone. Type in anything to see results for photos, email, contacts, calendar entries etc.
• Voice Memos: Record anything on the go. Voice memos work with both the built-in iPhone microphone or with the mic on your headset.
• Improved Calendar: Create meetings via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and subscribe to calendars with new CalDAV support.
• iTunes Purchases: Download movies, TV shows, music videos and audiobooks from the iTunes store straight from your phone.
• Safari Improvements: Enjoy faster performance, autofill login credentials and more.
• Internet Tethering: Share your internet connection with your laptop through Bluetooth or USB.
• Sync Notes: Sync all the notes you writ eon your iPhone back to your Mac or PC.

Three months ago, we mentioned in an article that Windows 7 was in the works; an official announcement has been made regarding its release date, so we are coming back to provide you with an update. Microsoft is projecting that the new operating system will hit retailers on October 22nd both in box form and pre-loaded on PC systems for sale. There are many signs that the new Windows 7 will be much more pleasing to users of all kinds than Vista and even Windows XP, so we are still crossing our fingers that all of the hype and positive rumors are true.

For those who are in need of a new PC before then, there will be free or discounted upgrades from Windows Vista will be available to anyone who purchases a machine shortly before the release date. While the PC manufacturer supplies these, there are rumors that Microsoft will be offering some kind of discount to all Windows Vista users. This has been left open and is yet to be confirmed. Want to test it out to see if Windows 7 is something you will be in line to buy this holiday season? Head over to the Microsoft website, where they are providing the Windows 7 Release Candidate download.

Brent - Is there a service that stands out above others for broadcasting voice messages to my clients?

Take a look at CallFire. Their platform specializes in fund raising, collections calls, emergency notices, political campaign advertisements and many other similar situations. There are many companies that do a good job with phone campaigns, but CallFire seems to be the easiest to use. Their website allows you to sign up for free and test the service with free minutes. If you like what you see, it is just a matter of funding your account, creating phone lists, recording a message and blasting away. The entire process of importing numbers, creating your message and sending it out shouldn't take any more than ten minutes and having such a smooth experience makes CallFire worth it.

There is also a great reporting system that comes with this service. Phone menus can be used to allow recipients to be placed on a do-not-call list and you can track all activity and outcomes of each batch of messages sent out. You can run detailed reports that total the number of calls answered, went to answering machine, got a busy signal, got a bad number error etc. Head over to CallFire's homepage and watch some of the informational videos and learn how their service can customize itself to fit your business needs.

I'm sure nobody has to tell you this, but keeping your company's data secure is important. This is why I am taking a moment to outline a few ways you can keep things tightened up around the office without worrying too much about employee turnover or any other factor interrupting your business.

1. Use different passwords EVERYWHERE. If your e-deposit machine password is the same as the password for your time clock and exchange server, people will notice. It is easier to remember, which is both the good and the bad thing. It will be easier for anyone trying to get confidential information from your company to guess the password you have a habit of using. Combat this with a password vault of some kind. We recommend Password Safe, a free utility that requires you to remember a master password in order to gain access to its database of passwords for your online accounts, servers or anything else you wish to store. Take a look at the October 18th, 2008 article we posted in the Security Corner section of this blog for more info.
2. When an employee leaves, delete them! We are very strict about our procedures with our clients when it comes to terminating an employee. Not only is it smart to delete the user immediately, but add his / her login information to a "deny access" group if applicable. Regardless of whether the employee is leaving on good terms, it is better to be safe than sorry.
3. Stop ignoring your security logs. As your first line of defense, your security logs will point out bad password attempts, unknown username errors, and many other events that should raise alerts to someone trying to gain access to your data that should not have it. Randy Franklin Smith has published a website that clearly defines almost all Windows Security Log Events to help you decipher the activity on your server. Pass this info on if your system Admin is not already monitoring for you.
4. Patch and update your computer as often as you can. If you are a DCG St. Bernard customer, you do not have to worry about this one. We do this automatically for all of your covered machines and we only install the the updates that are "white-listed" (or pre-approved) for you hardware / software environment. For those who aren't as fortunate, Keeping your operating system up-to-date is the number one method of staying protected from exploits that aim to compromise your data. Using products like Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer or heading over to Secunia are the best ways to stay current.

Not many people actually realize that Safari really is the world's fastest browser. It tends to get discounted by a large crowd of people - as do many products with a cult-like following - and whenever a new release comes out, Safari gets a chance to be in the spotlight again. On top the speed, Safari is also quite efficient when it comes to rendering a page correctly. Have you ever loaded a website and found text not lining up or pictures that seem to be in a place that looks "off?" The ability to load and display a page correctly is measured with the Acid 3 test, and Safari is the ONLY browser to ever pass it. If both speed and accuracy is not good enough for you, take a look below. I'm not going to go over all 150 Features of Safari listed at the Apple website, but I will definitely mention a few of the newest additions here:

• Top Sites - See screen shots of your favorite websites at a glance. Open one by clicking on the thumbnail.
• Cover Flow - Flip through your site history or bookmarks like you flip through albums in iTunes.
• Full History Search - Easily retrieve sites you've seen before. Spot the one you want in Cover Flow.
• Nitro Engine - Wait less. Browse more. Surf the web with the world's fastest browser.
• Windows Native - Vista and XP users: feel right at home in Safari for Windows.
• Developer Tools - Access the best suite of development tools ever included in a browser.

If you have a hi-fi audio system in your car or home, or you have expensive headphones, you can probably hear the "wisp" of mp3s. While the iTunes AAC files are cleaner at the same bitrate, they still do not have that perfect audio quality that many enthusiasts look for. Now that mp3 players are growing in capacity, users have room for what are called "lossless" audio files. Windows Media Player and iTunes will allow you to import files as "WMA Lossless" or "Apple Lossless." These files are as much as 10 times larger, but they sound like the original no matter what you are listening on. FLAC (free lossless audio codec) files are also very popular, but many mp3 players do not play the format. See which lossless file types are compatible with your digital audio player and try it out!