Travel: To Disconnect or Not Disconnect?

A trip is a great time to disconnect from the connected world and all of its stressful situations. However, there may be times when being disconnected can be extremely stressful. Fortunately, you can customize technology to fit your level of need and comfort.

Although I consider myself a very connected person, there are times when I like to disconnect, such as when I’m on an airplane or traveling in a country with a huge time difference from New Jersey. And, let’s face it, we all need to really take time off from everyday life – and that’s the purpose of getting away.

However, there are times when being connected can keep your travels on schedule and give you peace of mind. Using a Wi-Fi connection on an airplane, for example, can help you make, change or cancel reservations for hotels, rental cars or ground transportation if you run into unexpected delays, especially if you have a flight that makes stops – and requires plane changes – before you reach your destination.

A phone or tablet with Wi-Fi capability makes it really easy to stay connected, and VOIP – voice over internet protocol – which we all use if we have internet telephone service. You can talk through a variety of applications, such as Skype and Viber, to name two, and Facetime on iPhones. Using voice and video through a Wi-Fi network requires a fast internet connection, so make sure you have one before you try. There are many remote locations (we were in one of them on our last trip) that just have slow internet, and their cellular networks may not be all that strong, either.

If you want to be reached by telephone and don’t want to maintain a cellular connection, a Google phone number can give you a variety of options. You can give the number to people who may need to reach you or with whom you want to maintain contact. You can link that number to your cell phone number, but if you are traveling abroad, you’ll need to have a Wi-Fi connection to pick up voicemail or answer a call. If you have a cellular connection abroad, you can be reached directly. Because a Google number is a US number, people calling you will not have to pay international calling rates.

You can keep a cellular connection in a number of ways while abroad:

  • Arrange with your carrier to provide cellular service without roaming charges in the countries you plan to visit. These plans can be costly, and they can have severely limited numbers of phone calls and text messages available as well as highly restricted data use. If you are going to be in several countries on your trip and don’t need to use data-intensive applications such as Waze or Google Maps for driving and walking directions, this may be good for you. The phone can be really good for making or confirming reservations.
  • Get a SIM card for your phone when you arrive in the country you are visiting. As long as your phone is “unlocked,” as most are today, you can turn your phone into a local phone that will give you either an unlimited or large number of phone calls and text messages – including international calls (such as to the US) – and enough data to get directions to a hotel, restaurant or tourist attraction and use Waze or Google Maps to get there. The major carriers in each country usually have kiosks at the airport, and their agents can install and test the SIM card before you go on your merry way. In most cases, the card is good for 30 days. If you are in a major city, you can find stores for most carriers, just as you do in the US, and the carrier store may be better if you need something other than a standard arrangement. When you get home, you can reinstall your US carrier’s SIM card.
  • Rent a local phone. This is really simple, and it doesn’t require any changes to your existing phone. The cost and your allowances for phone calls, texts and data may vary, but you should have all the capabilities you’ll need.

Having cellular service abroad gives you all the conveniences and peace of mind you take for granted at home. If you are not part of a tour, you can make reservations or ask questions on the fly for hotels, restaurants, attractions and other needs. If you are going to be delayed in getting to a destination, you can call ahead. Even with the best navigation applications, you sometimes need someone to “talk you in” to a hotel or restaurant. All you need to do is call – and you can access the internet to get the phone number.

Even if you are on a guided tour, the tour operators sometimes strongly recommend you have a cell phone with local capability. If you become separated from your group at an attraction, for example, you can call and agree on a meeting place, or they can call you to make sure you get to where you’re supposed to be.

And, of course, there’s the peace-of-mind that comes with knowing you can reach somebody. On our last trip, we were part of an English-speaking group on a bus headed to the airport to leave our location. Nobody spoke the local language, and the driver did not speak English. We were caught in horrendous traffic, and we feared not making our flight. In our case, we had to catch a flight that operates once a week, and we were not in a place where we wanted to spend a whole week.

Nobody had a cell phone for the country, so there was no way to call the airline and let them know of our problem. While it had been very relaxing to be disconnected from the rest of the world, we were a busload of stressed people while on our re-entry path. We made our flight, so now it’s just another travel story to tell.

Traveling always has its surprises, but you shouldn’t feel unduly stressed or unsafe. If you are planning to travel abroad, we can help you determine the technology you’ll need to maintain your desired or required level of connection. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to talk about it.

iPad Pro and the Tech Transformation

Our new iPad Pro is a great device. We love it for what it does – and maybe for the technology transformation that it and other tablets are ushering in.

We can see the iPad Pro and other large tablets edging closer to replacing laptop and notebook computers for some people. If your primary use is to surf the web and take care of email, simply hook up a keyboard, and you’re up and running. If you want to watch videos, the screen on the iPad Pro is amazing for its clarity and speed.

Yes there are some downsides. For one thing, as much as I love it, the tablet is not a full computer. It’s a mobile device, and Apple gives every indication it will not merge its iOS (mobile) and OSX (computer) operating systems. However, with Apple and Microsoft fighting for market share, don’t bet against a tablet replacing your computer. You can get Microsoft Office for tablets – and mobile phones – and as more people get comfortable with storing documents in the cloud, they’re likely to demand more computing capability.

As far as tablets go, iPad Pro is bigger and heavier than previous generations of tablets, but I personally don’t find that to be a problem. In 2005, screens on cell phones started to get bigger, and as we advanced to smart phones with Internet capability, it was only a matter of time that users would demand even bigger screens to watch videos.

By 2010, recalling a once-every-five-years family reunion, the iPad was new to the market, and many family members wondered about the need for it. Well, the iPad and other tablets are here to stay, even though sales have slumped lately. They have a variety of sizes and uses professionally, ranging from healthcare professionals in offices and hospitals who need to maintain patient records as they move through an office or hospital – to IT specialists and sales reps who can do a lot of work without being tethered to a computer.

So, don’t sell tablets short. If the history of mobile devices holds true, enough users will try to push the technology a little farther than its capabilities so that Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and others will notice. Their teams will respond to market demand, and the cycle will start again.

iPad Pro, I love you – until the next better device hits the market.

Have questions about tablets? Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us and tell us what you’re looking for and how much you’d like to spend. There’s a tablet that’s right for you today – and maybe for the next 18 months.

Jailbreaking Devices Makes You Easy Prey

Everyone who has ever played Monopoly covets the “Get Out of Jail Free” card. It’s instant freedom. Some people like to “jailbreak” their cellphones for the instant freedom of doing something a manufacturer or carrier never intended. But if you jailbreak a phone or other device, you’ll likely never pass go and collect $200 – nor will you find free parking. You and others are more likely to pay a lot of rent.

Here’s why, and it’s very simple. Most updates for phones, tablets and computers – if not all – revolve around security. With so many more hackers using more sophisticated tools to get inside of any system, security is a preoccupation. Whenever you jailbreak a device, you open a hole for someone to breach.

It wouldn’t be that bad if a security issued affected the owner who jailbroke a device. Unfortunately, this can go viral very fast. Let’s look at one possibility – and you may never look at your babysitter the same way after this.

People jailbreak devices to get application feature sets, among other reasons. It could be that a high school or college student jailbreaks a phone to download music. Now, let’s say you and your babysitter use smartphone apps so you can transfer funds to pay up at the end of the night. There is no way for you to know if someone has used that security breach in the download app to get into your babysitter’s financial information. If they have, they could use that information to trace your bank account that’s associated with your phone.

But it’s not just your babysitter. Anybody who uses the convenience of paperless money transfer can be vulnerable to a security breach if one of you has jailbroken your device. We recently saw an article in a British newspaper about 250,000 iPhones being hacked as the result of Apple Pay transactions. The article had a sensationalistic tone, but once you got past that, it was easy to see that all hacked phones had been jailbroken.

If you use Google Wallet, the Android platform, you face the same hacking risk if you jailbroke your phone. In our “tap-and-go” world of speed and convenience, it won’t matter how secure the payment system is if your phone is the weak link.

So, your safety is very simple. Don’t jailbreak your phone, and be very careful about where and with whom you do on-demand business. I, for one, have a pretty high level of understanding about what goes in the electronic netherworld where hackers play, and I would never be foolhardy enough to think I could beat them at their game.

If you have a jailbroken phone and want to relock it, we can walk you through a procedure. However, be aware that once you start the process, it’s irreversible, and you will delete all information, files and settings on your phone. If you want to re-lock a SIM card, it must be done by your carrier. Only they have the software to restore factory settings for their network. If you are buying a used cell phone, we can help you with the process to make it safe and secure. We can answer any questions you may have about cell phone security. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or send us an email

Outlook App Puts Power in Your Hand

Microsoft has amped up the power of Outlook with apps for iOS and Android. They come as Microsoft prepares to release Windows 10, which is designed to work across multiple platforms, and they enable you to work more efficiently while you’re on the go.

Despite the smartphone becoming a primary screen for reading email, most people prefer to deal with action items on their computers. Sorting a lot of email, managing calendars and sharing files require too many steps or multiple apps that don’t work together well on the phone.  The new Outlook app brings together your email, calendar, contacts and files in a way to help you get more done, even on the smallest screen.

Here are some of the features that can help you be more productive with your smartphone or tablet in those short time bursts available between appointments and tasks.

Starting at the top, the Outlook app allows you to segment your email inbox into two broad categories: Focused and Other. The app uses some intelligence tools to learn what’s important to you, and it has a single-tap capability to unsubscribe from unwanted email. That’s a huge benefit when you’re trying to manage email in seconds.

From there, you can continue to use swipes to delete, archive, and move messages, and you can also “schedule” a time to handle a specific message. The feature removes it from your inbox until the time you have scheduled it to return. That eliminates a lot of extra scrolling as you move through the day. The “People” view shows you messages  that the app determines (learns) the people you’re in contact with most by email.

All of these features work across your favorite email accounts, including Office 365, Exchange, Outlook.com, iCloud, Gmail and Yahoo! Mail.

The Outlook app makes your calendars available within the app, allowing direct interaction with your email. The ‘Quick RSVP’ feature lets you respond to meetings (Accept / Tentative / Decline) right from your inbox, without even opening the mail. The ‘Send Availability’ feature lets you find and share available meeting times in email. Once you’ve settled on a time, you can even create a meeting invitation—all within the app. You can view meeting details, invitees and their attendance status.

Outlook simplifies sharing files stored in the cloud.  With just a few taps, you can insert a link to any file from OneDrive, Dropbox and other popular accounts in your email message. Recipients are automatically granted permission to view these files, with no extra steps. You can find files quickly by viewing your recently received email attachments, and you can search across both your cloud storage and your email attachments at once with Quick Filters to let you quickly sort by file type.

The app is free. For iPhones, it requires iOS 8.0 or later. It’s compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch and is optimized for iPhone 5, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus. For Android users, Android 4.0 or later is required. If you have questions about how to use it with your phone or tablet, call us – 973-433-6676 – send us an email. We’ll be able to answer your questions or walk you through the set-up steps.

Updates are Easy…and Necessary

There’s a reason why you should update your software on a regular basis. The updates fix security issues and other bugs. It’s an easy process. Just set up an automated routine and never worry about downloading and installing them. An example from a new client shows the consequences of neglect.

When we took on our new client, we were given a laundry list of issues. There’s nothing unusual about that because nobody changes their IT support provider unless there are a lot of problems. In working through the list, we found that their operating system had not been updated for months – nor had they updated their virus software.

To us, this is unbelievable. It’s also totally avoidable. Too many small offices and consumers think the updates are not important. We consider them absolutely necessary – and for small businesses and individuals, they may be even more vital than for larger systems. The reason is that mid-size and large businesses have dedicated IT staffs to monitor and maintain their systems. Smaller system owners rely on themselves and outside support providers to do that work. When that work is not done, IT systems are exposed to all sorts of vulnerabilities.

We monitor our clients’ systems, especially at update time; to make sure everything is in order and to let them know if there are issues. System security is the big thing. With so many types of hackers looking to either steal personal information or hold your files hostage for ransom, security simply has never been so important.

Along with your operating system and program files, it’s vitally important to update your virus and malware software. It’s easy to do.

Microsoft issues updates on the second Tuesday of the month – Patch Tuesday – generally in the afternoon. If you are set up for automatic updates, your computer will automatically download them within 24 to 48 hours. Your only obligation is to restart your computer for some of the updates to take effect.

Windows 7 and 8 users can refer to this article from Microsoft to set up your automatic updates, including whether you want to install them automatically or be notified so you can install them at the time of your choice. It’s a four-step process.

The only caution we have is to be careful of anyone contacting you out of the blue to fix your computer online. Microsoft and Apple, for example, will NEVER contact you about a problem with your computer. If you get an unsolicited email or call from someone who implies he or she can fix a problem with your computer, delete the email or hang up the phone call. If you are concerned about your computer system, call us.

If you have any questions about setting up automated Microsoft updates or determining which suggested updates to install – as opposed to those you must install – call us at 973-433-6676 or email us with your questions. We can help you set up an update program for all of your software applications.

Shedding Light on the Flashlight App

A cable-based news network reported that flashlight apps on Android-based phones can steal data. It created a stir in the general and technical news media. Yes, somebody could write an app that can track some of your activity (and sell it to marketers) or could launch a virus. But there’s a bigger-picture lesson to be learned: Use common sense.

Let’s start with a few of “givens.”

First, there’s always someone out there trying to get your data and resell it – whether it’s your sensitive personal information or just some data to help a marketer target you. Ultimately, you have the responsibility to protect your data – though we can help you put systems in place.

Second, you have control over what gets installed on your device. You need to take time and care when you download and install apps to make sure they are safe and secure.

Third, if you have an iPhone or an iPad with a camera, you have no reason to download a third-party app for your flashlight. It’s been there since the release of iOS 7.

With that being said, what’s going on with the flashlight apps? You can dig into some of this yourself, starting with a report from Fast Company about the app Brightest Flash sharing location and device ID information. (Please note, most of you allow this information to be used with many other apps, such as those that provide directions while you drive somewhere.) The app’s developer was automatically sharing location and device information with advertisers and other third parties–even when users opted out. In fact, before they could accept or refuse the app’s terms, it was already collecting and sending information.

That got scaled up in a special report on a cable news channel, in which viewers were told this could be bigger than Ebola. What further rankles me is that the report on the How-To Geek website made specific references to the iPhone flashlight app, which is built into your device. It made a mountain out of a molehill.

However, the report noted: “The fact is that Android app permissions are a mess and you have very little control over what apps can do once you’ve agreed to install the application other than just trusting Google. Your best bet is to avoid installing apps that have permissions that look suspect, or only install apps from really reputable companies.”

All of this brings us back to why I like the iPhone and Apple apps. Apple may come across as control freaks, but the company vets all of its apps and app developers to give you better protection. Some device users find that restrictive; I find it comforting.

To be sure, hackers and virus writers are looking to invade Apple computers and devices, and it’s only a matter of time until they succeed often enough to create problems. For now, our advice is – as always – to look before you click and decline if you’re not sure. Also, as always, never hesitate to call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us if you have any questions about any apps you’d like to download.

New Devices and the Texting Blues

We’re starting to see a lot of texting problems for customers who have switched from iPhones to Android devices. They’re not receiving text messages. One of the most common problems is other people’s phones not realizing that their new devices are not on the Apple network – even though they see “blue” while texting.

The reason is that Apple’s network isn’t as smart as the phones that use them. If you switch to an Android or Windows phone, it can take up to 45 days for Apple to remove your phone number from its network. So, when friends with an iPhone or Apple device want to send you a text, they pull your cell phone number out of their directory and send you a message – just like they’ve always done.

And, just as always, they see the blue that indicates they’re sending the text across the Apple network – which, by the way, is why there is no texting charge from your carrier. However, if your new phone is not an Apple, it’s not on the Apple network, so you don’t get the message

If you still have your old iPhone, here’s what you need to do.

Go to “Settings” and then “Messages” and turn off the “Instant Messaging” or “IM.” That will take your old phone off the cellular – or data – network. If you want to hang on to your old iPhone, you can use it like an iPod without telephone capability. Simply go to “Settings” and turn off “Cellular Data.” That will limit emails, web browsing and push notifications to Wi-Fi only.

If you are traveling internationally with an iPhone this summer, you can take similar steps to reduce your cellular roaming charges. You’ll have Internet capability at Wi-Fi hotspots, and you’ll be able to talk to people by using apps such as Skype or Viber as long as you have an Internet connection.

You can read more about the uses of Airplane Mode from Apple. If you need help with your settings, we can walk you through the process. Just call us at 973-433-6676 –not from the phone you want to reset. We can also answer your questions by email.