Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is truly an important part of marketing for any business. Businesses that rely solely or largely on online marketing must understand the concepts of SEO marketing in order to be successful. If you’ve been doing this a while, then you probably know that it’s not as easy as it seems on the surface. Today, there are numerous specialists in this field with years of experience in Search Engine Optimization. They will testify that search engine optimization is a complex procedure that requires several layers of precision efforts in order to work. Search Engine Optimization is an art that if well mastered, will ensure that your website is ranked higher than the competition. Of course, being on that first page of results is every business owners dream and if it were easy, everyone would be there at one time or another. As with all technology, people have found ways to master SEO and they’ve found ways to “beat the algorithm.” This process, though effective, can cause a website that really shouldn’t be there, to appear at the top of your search results for a specific word or phrase. Beating the algorithm sometimes results in the website that should be right at the top, falling to the bottom of the page. Though Google and others do work hard to make sure things like this don’t happen, we all see it every day. Below, are our top 12 tips for getting your website to that first page of the listings. Focus your content on fulfilling a need. This is simple. All you need to do is find a need and fill it. If you do this well enough, consumers will come looking for you. Know your target consumer. Speak to them personally in your content. Make sure you’re addressing their pain points and hitting all their hot buttons. Be sure your content speaks to people in a personal way. Always remember that the customer is who you’re after; not the search engines. Write content that is useful to your customers. Ensure your content is mobile friendly. In this age, where people are somewhat addicted to their mobile phones, your web content must be mobile friendly. Make sure that everything is easily accessible from any device. People are using their smartphones more to shop and make purchases, so this process must be just as simple on a smartphone as online. Do use keywords but ensure your web content makes sense Knowing that keywords are the way to beat algorithms, some people load their web content with keywords. Check online to see what the current density rate for keywords is. At the moment, it’s around 2 percent. If you go over this, the search engines could classify your site as SPAM. This is the exact opposite of what you really want. In addition, loading your content with keywords makes it sound less authentic and even annoying. It diverts the attention of the readers from important information about your business. Give your audience more than they expect Your website should contain good information about your company and your products and services. You can also add interesting trivia, a surprising story about one of the company owners, or anything unique that might make visitors remember you. Some sites use humor. Above all, be truthful and sincere and this will create trust in your website visitors. Ensure your work is amazing Do not bore your audience with irrelevant information. While writing informative pieces, ensure they are entertaining. It’s often a good idea to work with a professional copywriter who can create incredible content that will WOW your audience. Link, link, link You don’t want your visitors searching elsewhere on the internet for information concerning things that you’ve discussed on your site. Instead, provide links that go out to these stories. People today appreciate the convenience. Inbound and outbound linking can be tricky so get help from a specialist if you feel you need it. Keep creating content Do not just create your website and then walk away. Instead, keep tweaking the content there. Keep adding fresh content each week.  Make sure articles and blogs are relevant and valuable to your consumers. Think like your consumer Being an internet user yourself, you probably know a few things about how consumers think. But, it’s important to learn what motivates a person to make a purchase from your site. There’s a whole science behind these concepts. Once you understand the mindset of your target consumer, you can better address their needs and speak to their heart. Ensure that content is evergreen Before you post your content, ask yourself this question: “Three months from now, will this content still be relevant? What about in 6 months or two years?” Is the answer is yes, go ahead and publish it. If not, you may need to rewrite your content so that it’s just as relevant in two years as it is today. Every piece of your content matters Your writing should focus on the value of your products and services. You want an amazing website that stays at the top of search listings for years, not just a few days. If you focus on SEO tricks, you may be at the top for a while, but then shoppers may realize that in fact, there is not much on your site they need. Stay relevant. Give shoppers what they’re looking for. This is how you get return visitors. Social media should be your best friend Maintain all your social media sites placing fresh content there daily. Most business owners hire someone to do this for them and this can be a valuable investment that really pays off. Social media gives you the opportunity to interact on a personal level with customers and potential buyers. Don’t miss out on this opportunity. Focus on retention Work with someone who understands the analytics that you get from your site each week. You can use analytics to tell exactly when someone clicks away

Excel Like A Pro Part III  This is the final of a three-part series about using Microsoft Excel 2016. It will cover some of the more advanced topics. If you aren’t great with numbers, don’t worry. Excel does the work for you. With the 2016 version of Excel, Microsoft really upped its game. Excel’s easy one-click access can be customized to provide the functionality you need. If you haven’t read Part I and Part II of this series, it’s suggested that you do so. The webinar versions can also be found on our site or on YouTube. This session will discuss the following: More with Functions and Formulas Naming Cells and Cell Ranges Statistical Functions Lookup and Reference Functions Text Functions Documenting and Auditing Commenting Auditing Features Protection Using Templates Built-In Templates Creating and Managing Templates More With Functions And Formulas Naming Cells And Cell Ranges How do you name a cell? You do so by the cell’s coordinates, such as A2 or B3, etc. When you write formulas using Excel’s coordinates and ranges you are “speaking” Excel’s language. However, this can be cumbersome. For example, here G12 is significant because it refers to our Team Sales. You can teach Excel to speak your language by naming the G12 cell Team Sales. This will have more meaning to you and your teammates. The benefits of naming cells in this fashion are that they are easier to remember, reduce the likelihood of errors, and use absolute references (by default). To name our G12 cell Team Sales, right-click on the cell, choose Define Name, and type “Team Sales” into the dialog box. You can also add any comments you want here. Then click Ok. Another way to do this is to click on the G12 cell and go up to the Name Box next to the Formula Bar, then type your name there. And, there’s a third option at the top of the page called “Define Cells” that you can use. Notice that there’s an underscore between Team and Sales (Team_Sales). There are some rules around naming cells: You’re capped at 255 characters. The names must start with a letter, underscore or a backslash (). You can only use letters, numbers, underscores or periods. Strings that are the same as a cell reference, for example B1, or have any of the following single letters (C,c,R,r) cannot be used as names. How To Name A Range Highlight an entire range of cells and name your range (we’re doing this in the upper left-hand corner). Then you can easily use the name to produce the sum you need: You won’t have to go back and forth from spreadsheet to spreadsheet clicking on specific cells to calculate your formula. You simply key in the name of the cell range you want to add. Just be sure to remember the names as you build your spreadsheets over time. If you ever make a mistake or want to change names, you can go to Name Manager to do this. Remember that if you move the cells, the name goes with it. Statistical Functions The three statistical functions are: Average If Count If Sum If The Average If can be used to figure out the average of a range based on certain criteria. Here we’re going calculate the Average If of the ERA of 20+ Game Winners from the spreadsheet we developed in our last session. We’ve already named some of our cell ranges (wins, era). And we want to know the average greater than 19. Hit Enter and you have the average. You can use this feature across a wide variety of scenarios. For example, if you wanted to know the average sales of orders above a certain quantity – or units sold by a particular region, or the average profit by a distinct quarter. Count If is used for finding answers to questions like, “How many orders did client x place?” “How many sales reps had sales of $1,000 or more this week?” or “How many times have the pitchers of the Philadelphia Phillies won the Cy Young Award?” As you can imagine, it’s essential that you type in the text exactly the way you named that particular cell. Hit Enter and you get your answer Now we’re going to use the Sum If function to calculate the number of strikeouts by the pitchers on this list who are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Sum If is a good way to perform a number of real-world statistical analyses. For example, total commissions on sales above a certain price, or total bonuses due to reps who met a target goal, or total earnings in a particular quarter year-over-year. Lookup and Reference Functions These are designed to ease the finding and referencing of data, especially in large tables. Here, cells A1 and E3 relate to a variable interest rate that is paid on a bank account. For balances under $1,000, the interest rate is 3% – between $1,000 and $10,000, the interest rate is 4%, etc. Cell A6 shows the balance of a specific account. The Lookup Function is used in B6. It looks up the interest rate and applies it to the account balance of $45,000. This is what the formula looks like in the bar at the top: The vector form of the Excel Lookup Function can be used with any two arrays of data that have one-to-one matching values. For example, two columns of data, two rows of data, or even a column and a row would work, as long as the Lookup Vector is ordered (alphabetically or numerically), and the two data sets are the same length. V Lookup and H Lookup are used to pull information into reports. We’re going to use Report Setup. Here, we have a worksheet that references salespeople, sales data, pricing, revenue, and the clients that they sold to. You’ll see on the top right where we set up a report with names referencing sales data.

Microsoft introduced the Surface Pro 4 Tablet some time back in 2015. It replaced an older model called the Surface Pro. Soon after the release of the Surface Pro 4, Microsoft’s social media pages were flooded with complaints about a flickering screen. The Redmond Washington-based company responded to these complaints by promising that they would replace some Surface Pro 4 devices with this problem. Trouble for the tech giant This is good news especially since the company is making the replacements for free, but for only those devices experiencing the mishap within three years of purchase. In their web page called Surface Pro 4 screen flickers [https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4230448/surface-pro-4-screen-flicker], Microsoft said that their top priority is to create the best products and experiences for their customers. Further, the company noted that they have heard their customer’s complaints and that’s why they have come on board to address these issues. After some investigation, Microsoft determined that some of the affected Surface Pro 4 devices could not be repaired with driver updates or new firmware. Surface Pro 4 users who are experiencing the flicker are advised to first install the latest Surface and Windows programs to ensure that this is not the cause of the flickering. Surface and Windows updates are designed to keep any device running in an optimal state. If the issue persists, consumers should contact Microsoft Support. Once they verify that the device is certified as one of those that will require a replacement, the exchange process is set in motion. Getting your Surface Pro 4 replaced or repaired For those shipping their devices out to Microsoft for repair or replacement, it typically takes about 5-8 business days for the tech giant to get your broken device. The time to repair or replace it can vary depending upon several different factors. Microsoft has also promised to refund the warranty fee to customers who paid for a warranty fee to repair their device. In order to get a refund, customers must contact Customer Support for validation. Microsoft is committed to delivering great products and services to their customers. Consumer complaints Information about the flickering screen issue came to the attention of Microsoft after Consumer Reports, a non-profit organization that offers product ratings, said that they could no longer recommend Microsoft Surface products because the device did not perform as expected. As any serious service provider would do, Microsoft did a thorough examination, made their own findings, and came up with a resolution to have the screen replacement performed for free. Further, Consumer Reports learned about the flickering screen from surveyed electronic owners who said that their Surface Pro had too many problems and that they would not recommend it. Experts have been concerned that the Surface Book Laptop may be more likely to have screen failures as compared to other competing brands. To date, this has not been the case, but it has caused sales of these products to decline. Mitigating the damages Microsoft’s decision to replace the flickering screens for free might not be the immediate solution that will stop future damage, but they are hoping to mitigate the harm caused by negative reviews of the Surface Pro devices. Nothing raises the spirits of a devoted customer or consumer than a company that acknowledges fault on their part and gives a remedy with no strings attached. Many companies, especially those in the business of electronic devices, handle these types of issues poorly. They often spend months denying that anything is wrong. Then, later they make the method of repair and replacement so complicated that users get frustrated. Some warranties are felt to be useless due to these and other problems that people have experienced over the years. Consumers often complain that no one seems to qualify for the free repair services. However, with the Microsoft Surface Pro 4, the steps were purposely made simple and straightforward. This encouraged those affected to give the company a second chance to do it right. Often, this type of issue can turn off consumers to a product or even an entire brand, but Microsoft has made every attempt to do the right thing. Future Microsoft designs The Microsoft design team has taken these problems into consideration when developing new versions of the Surface Pro. For the future, Microsoft products should have very clear and reliable screens that will last for years with no problems. The company seems to have learned an important lesson throughout this ordeal. Developing brand loyalty What Microsoft has done by launching the Surface Pro 4 Replacement Program is not only a wise corporate decision, but a show of gratitude and humility to their consumers. This is probably a major reason why Microsoft customers are loyal to this brand. They expect perfection from the company and do not accept anything less.

At nearly $1 Trillion in earnings a year, hacking is now at record proportions. Your data is a valuable asset, not only to you but to criminals as well. Don’t get hacked. Here’s what you need to know. 1 in 3 Americans has been hacked. A hacker attacks someone every 39 seconds. 61% of small businesses experienced a cyber-attack within the past year. The average cost of a data breach in the U.S. is $7.35 Million. $5 Billion was lost due to hacking in 2017. This is more than 15 times the total losses in 2016. Most of this cost was due to data breach fines, downtime, and productivity losses. 54% of breaches are caused by negligent employees who click on suspicious websites and emails. 20% of businesses experienced downtime of over 100 hours due to ransomware attacks. 64% of businesses paid ransoms even though paying doesn’t guarantee that data will be returned. The anticipated cost of cybercrime in the next 3 years is $6 Trillion. The pool of cybersecurity experts is shrinking. By 2021 there will be 3.5 Million jobs that can’t be filled. The demand for security experts is increasing and is outpacing the supply. 5 THINGS TO DO RIGHT NOW  Ignore Ransomware Threat Popups and Don’t Fall for Phishing Attacks. These attacks say that your data will be encrypted so you can’t access it, but in many cases, this isn’t true; it’s just a ploy to get you to click on something harmful. Once you click on the link, then you’re in trouble. You may have to pay a ransom to get your files unlocked. Ransomware is a type of malicious software (malware) that blocks access to a computer. It infects, locks, or takes control of a system and demands a ransom to unlock it. It’s also referred to as a crypto-virus, crypto-Trojan or crypto-worm. It then threatens that your data will be gone forever if you don’t pay using a form of anonymous online currency such as Bitcoin. Phishing is when a scammer uses fraudulent emails, texts, or copycat websites to get you to click a link so they can steal your confidential information. Thieves are looking for information like social security numbers, account numbers, login IDs, and passwords. They use this information to rob you of your money and your identity. The odds are good that phishing will work. A campaign of 10 messages has a better than 90% chance of getting clicked on. The majority of account takeovers come from simple phishing attacks where you or someone in your organization gets tricked into releasing private credentials and information. Use Hard-to-Guess Passwords and Two-Factor Authentication. Use complex passwords with 9+ characters and don’t reuse passwords across your different accounts. Consider using a password manager like LastPass. For accounts that support this, two-factor authentication is an extra step worth taking to ensure the privacy of your data. It requires both your password and an additional piece of information to log in to an account. The second piece could be a code the company sends to your phone or a random number generated by an application or token. Two-factor authentication will protect your account even if your password is compromised. Secure Wi-Fi With a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Hackers now emulate free open Wi-Fi to steal your IDs and passwords. You can be fooled when you try to login to free Wi-Fi in airports, restaurants, and other public areas. When this happens, everything that you type is copied and archived by these criminals and used against you. Using a VPN encrypts your Internet connection and protects your privacy. When you connect to the Wi-Fi over your Virtual Private Network, no one can see the information you send, and your privacy is safeguarded at all times.  Back Up Your Data. Store data both onsite and offsite in a secure Enterprise-Based Cloud System. Back up your files regularly to ensure you have a duplicate of all your files and applications if your network is compromised. Traditional data backups can’t always restore all of an IT system’s data and settings. This is why you need both an onsite backup and a reliable backup via the Cloud. An enterprise-based cloud backup solution safeguards your data and ensures that it’s recoverable under any circumstance.  Hire a Reputable Technology Solutions Provider to Help. A reputable Technology Solutions Provider can deploy a layered security protocol with regular software patches, vulnerability management, and continuously-updated endpoint protection. They can also provide Security Awareness Training for your employees to help them recognize potential threats. With the right provider, you’ll boost your defense posture and decrease the likelihood that a data breach will take down your business. Don’t get hacked. Contact us, and we’ll keep your data secure.

According to a recent survey, around 29 percent of companies named security as the major problems in the upcoming years. The current percentage is a ten percent increase from last year’s survey results. While security is the biggest problem, efficiency and workflow was a close second, at 26 percent. Apart from cybersecurity and problems pertaining to privacy, emerging technology and infrastructure management have also been ranked as the top technological challenges faced by companies; regarding of the industry they belong to. Challenges faced by tech companies While firms do face these major challenges, coming up with a solution for them is a problem because half of the companies that cited security as a big problem don’t have the money needed to deal with the problem. Half of the respondents claimed that their firm’s budget was the same as last year while 8% of them stated that the budget allocated to the IT department was smaller this year. Another research also suggests that a large part of global companies, up to 55%, only have an IT audit assessment on a less-frequent basis; most commonly once a year. It is a difficult task for security professionals to get the budget they require for setting up a proper, well-developed cybersecurity program. The problem is that security professionals are only handed the budget after there has been a major data breach or if there has been an incident that has left a negative impact on the company. A number of organizations find it hard to quantify security or put a monetary value on it. With news filled about phishing scams and hacking incidents and social media websites talking about privacy, one can easily understand why security is such a concern. For instance, just last year in May, companies in more than 150 countries had been targeted. The targeted companies included big names such as NHS, FedEx, and Honda. Just like law firms, tech firms also store tremendous amounts of sensitive data about users, which is why it is crucial for them to employ high-security levels. A lack of security on the part of tech firms not only shows negligence but also puts all the users at risk who’s data is stored with the company. What security challenges do tech firms face? The challenges to cybersecurity are regularly developing and are becoming more severe; making it vital for tech firms to stay on top of their game and constantly work on finding solutions, so they stay safe from security attacks. Mentioned below are a few of the common kinds of threat that tech companies can face: Malware Malware is highly common. Not only is it present abundantly on the internet, but it is also the tool that a majority of cybercriminals use for obtaining their goal. Whether it is for locking up computers and charging them for obtaining their goal or it is for infiltrating an organization and stealing confidential information; malware is the best tool. Similarly, malware can also be used for making public statements and getting people’s attention. In each cybersecurity incident, malware always has a role. In fact, it can also be used as a pivot into the company. Users While this might seem surprising but users are a threat too. For instance, the threat can come from the inside, i.e., a malicious employee, or it could also be because of accidental user actions. Spear phishing Another tool that is becoming more common these days is spear phishing, primarily because it is quite effective. Hardly anyone thinks twice before opening any PDF document or a Word document. Many of us, in fact, use it regularly for work without thinking. This routine of not giving a second thought before opening a document is exactly the factor that criminals count on. For all these security threats, the solution is simple; user education. For any organization, it is crucial to teach employees to first think before clicking on anything; whether it is a link or a document. While user education is important, it doesn’t mean that technology selection should be neglected. Enterprise systems can provide a sufficient amount of security if their users are given the right cybersecurity training and know how to use the systems correctly. While this requires more money and more time, the training is crucial for keeping the firm’s data protected. Furthermore, another step that firms can take is to use email gateway technologies that can help get rid of the malicious emails before it goes into the user’s inbox. This simple measure can go a long way when it comes to protecting the firm from spear phishing. Bottom line It cannot be denied that the industry is filled with challenges, that increase in difficulty with each passing year. However, the good news is that all problems can be solved if only firms make use of passion, ingenuity, and a systematic thought process for solving them.

This article will cover a quick overview of the Microsoft Office 365 for June 2018 updates. The first step to making use of monthly or periodical updates is knowing that they exist. Updates simply provide new capabilities to your software or make improvements on the already existing ones. The challenge is thus having the knowledge on how they work. In a business organization, it would be an expensive affair to conduct employee training every time there is an update. The good news is that Microsoft has already taken care of that. On May 21st it launched the Microsoft Training Service, which is basically a digital customized service for Office 365 and Windows 10. The classes are designed to help customers learn about the new updates without having a financial impact on management. The pre-pilot phase of this program has been undertaken by twenty-five organizations to help leverage training which includes customizable up-to-date content, right-sized experiences to an organization’s needs, and consumption tracking. These new services by Microsoft will be available as a pilot program in late July 2018. Be on the lookout. Those interested need to register at Microsoft Training Services Pilot. New Outlook Features. Outlook features across MAC, Windows, Web, and mobile devices help you manage your time better. Finding a location for your meeting is made easy. When you go to Outlook, before typing your location, it gives you a list of suggestions such as the last meeting, recently used conference rooms, and also common locations. Once you start to type in the location field, Outlook brings up a list of suggestions that are powered by Bing and then finally completes your location with necessary information including full addresses for public locations. This Outlook service is even better if you are using an iPhone Operating System because it will use your current location, your destination address, and traffic updates to send you notifications on when you should be ready to leave for your next meeting. This amazing feature will soon be coming to windows. Meeting Invitation Made Accessible It is now possible to know who has been invited and who is attending a certain meeting. Outlook allows you to see the tracked responses and RSVPs for meetings that you have been invited to. This way, it is easy for you to decide whether or not to go. Sometimes two meetings may overlap. Someone else in your organization may already be going. You can choose to attend the other meeting and then sync up with your colleague later. This is very important as it makes time management a much easier task. Time Zone Outlook has added more features on the Time Zone functionality that will help you plan meetings at optimal times across different time zones. It is now possible to display up to three time zones on your Windows calendar. This way you are able to see what is happening in other locations. New Features in SharePoint and OneDrive Several features were launched at the May SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas for both SharePoint and OneDrive. There were new improvements on the built-in scan feature in OneDrive for both iOS and Android mobiles. These are accessed through the dedicated icon in the tab bar. That makes it easy to add images, annotations, and even multiple pages to your OneDrive. Now it is possible to automatically upload videos and photos captured on your camera roll in upload for Business OneDrive. There is also another great improvement that gives users the ability to require and set a password when you share a folder with other people. This feature basically prevents others from accessing your files if your intended recipient accidentally forwards a link. These new features now give you the ability to stop other users from downloading files or documents shared through the view-only links. Microsoft SharePoint Spaces These are basically immersive, mixed reality experiences that enable users to view and interact with content from every angle. In addition, users can visualize and manipulate data and product models in real-time. The Title Bar It is now easy to quickly change your current document’s title, open the document’s location, share the document through an invitation link, and even access the document’s version history by simply clicking on the title bar and selecting the functions from a drop-down menu. Security Office 365 solutions ensure that you identify and manage personal data such as the prevention of data loss and advanced data governance. The New Office 365 is able to detect and protect against security threats. It helps users comply with the European Union Privacy law recently enforced, the General Data Protection and Regulation (GDPR). To learn more about these helpful new changes, please visit: The Microsoft Blog.

If you are a fan of smart devices, then you may already have an Echo device – Amazon’s line of smart speakers that connect to other devices using Amazon’s voice-controlled personal assistant Alexa. These Alexa-powered speakers from Amazon hit the market first before the likes of Google, Lenovo, and Apple followed suit with their own smart personal assistants. The top products in this space include: Google Home Smart Assistant Lenovo’s Smart Assistant Apple’s HomePod The Echo from Amazon These products are taking the market by storm through Amazon’s Alexa-powered Echo, the pioneer in this world of smart speakers, remains in command of the largest market share. Amazon Alexa supports a large number of streaming services – both free and subscription-based on Amazon devices. The voice-controlled app lets you customize practically all the voice commands you use with your speakers and intelligently keeps track of these commands for you. With Alexa, you can enjoy convenient playback control in your home as you stream music and other media through any number of your Alexa devices. Registering your Alexa device to an Amazon account also allows you to access your Audible library and Amazon Music library automatically, taking your home entertainment to another level of convenience. What if you have an iPhone home? Apple devices and services are extremely selective when it comes to pairing and connecting to non-Apple services or devices. So, you may realize that Apple iTunes and Amazon Alexa do not play well together, which begs the question: is my iPhone able to connect with an Amazon Echo device? The answer is a big YES! So pull up a chair, sit down and we’ll show you how it’s done. Echo devices are Bluetooth enabled, which means you can control the audio playback on your device by speaking to Alexa. This is to say that you will be able to play and control your Apple music service on Amazon’s smart speakers if iPhone is what you use for your home entertainment. Using Bluetooth to connect your iPhone to Alexa You can connect an iPhone to the Amazon product via Bluetooth, giving you the ability to start streaming and control the audio with the following products: 1st or 2nd generation Amazon Echo 2nd gen Echo Dot Echo Spot Echo Show Echo Plus Initial pairing The first thing you’ll have to do is get the two devices (your iPhone and the Amazon Echo device) connected. This entails pairing the iPhone with your Echo device via Bluetooth. To do this, take your iPhone near the Alexa device that you want to pair. On your iPhone, open the Settings app. Navigate to Bluetooth and open it. Say, “Alexa, pair” to put the Amazon Echo device in Bluetooth Pairing mode. With that command, Alexa should give you an audible acknowledgment that it is searching and confirm when your Echo device is in pairing mode. Next, you’ll get a notification on your iPhone screen asking if you want to pair or giving you the ability to cancel the pairing request. Tap “Pair” to connect the two devices via Bluetooth. Alexa should also give you an audible confirmation that it has just connected to [name of your iPhone], adding that now that you’re paired, you should just say “connect my phone” next time you want to reestablish the pairing. On your Bluetooth screen, the Echo will now show as connected. You can see this by scrolling to Other Devices at the bottom where the particular Echo device appears. Streaming music and more Once you have paired your iPhone with Alexa, you can open the Apple Music app and select the specific song or playlist that you want to stream. You should then hear this selection play through your Echo speaker. You can stream audio from iTunes, Apple Music, Podcasts, and even the Apple TV. You also have the option to play music from any third-party app that has audio, such as AudioBox or Pandora. Controlling playback and more Alexa is a voice-controlled app so you will be able to control your playback by simply speaking to it once it is playing. You can tell the intelligent personal assistant to play, pause, raise and lower the volume, resume, and even skip ahead and back to the contents on that playlist. You won’t be able, however, to ask Alexa to identify a song for you, nor can you make it play specific songs or other content from your iPhone. If you try asking your Alexa to play specific songs, it will simply break the connection to your iPhone and instead play music from the Amazon music source that you have set as your default choice, such as Amazon Music. For that kind of command, Apple prefers that you use its own personal assistant Siri, so you’ll need to say “Hey Siri” for that. Wrap Up If you’re an iPhone owner and an Echo diehard at the same time, Bluetooth pairing is a great way to start using these amazing devices together. Though it does have its limitations, it still makes listening to your favorite music fun and easy.

How Can You Keep Your Laptop Running Longer? Getting work done in the airport or other remote location where you can’t find a spare plug to recharge your “dying” laptop can be tricky. Battery power only lasts so long on any device, and once it’s used up, you’re stuck hunting down a spare outlet (along with other travelers in the airport lounge). Luckily, there are some fast and simple solutions to help you gain a bit more battery life. Here are 8 handy tips to try: 1. Turn On The Battery Saver In Your Laptop Your PC or Mac laptop comes equipped with a way to lengthen your battery life. Adjusting a few settings can gain you some extra juice when you need it. Your laptop can automatically lower the power state for a number of components so you can ration your battery power more effectively. You can change settings to turn off applications you don’t need, shut down processes that aren’t required and adjust specific activities so your laptop consumes less power. 2. Turn Off The Keyboard Light Do you really need to have the keyboard backlit? This is a power drain you can quickly fix. On your PC, go to the Control Center. Next, click the Keyboard and Mouse, then Backlit Keyboard to adjust the lighting. Turn off the Backlit Keyboard. Unfortunately, there’s no built-in setting in Windows 10 to adjust the backlit keyboard settings. However, some original equipment manufacturers like Dell offer their own software for this. They have settings to turn the backlit keyboard on or off, adjust the keyboard brightness, and automatically turn off the backlight after a number of seconds of inactivity. Do some research for your device to learn what options you have. While you’re at it, why not assign a hotkey for this? You may need to do this again in a pinch, and you’ll save some time. 3. Lower Your Screen Brightness You certainly can’t turn this off, but you can adjust the brightness setting and resolution. Reducing the level of brightness to 50 percent will save you quite a bit of power when you’re running low. 4. Turn Down The Volume Doing this will save you a bit more power. If you’re desperate for more time, this is worth doing. Lower the sound as much as you can. You can also switch from listening via the laptop’s speakers to a set of earbuds. If you don’t need the sound, turn it off altogether. 5. Disable Ports And Devices This is an easy way to reduce your laptop’s power consumption. Close down anything you don’t need. Disconnect peripherals you aren’t using like external hard drives or a USB mouse. Some other things that hog power are your Bluetooth, graphics processors, optical drives, and Wi-Fi. Turn these off if you don’t need them. For Mac users, disable your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in the Menu Bar. If you use a PC, go to the Device Manager in your desktop and disable ports you don’t need. This won’t provide a lot of extra juice, but if you’re really lacking power, this is something to try. Also turn off any USB ports that aren’t being used. To turn off devices on your PC in Windows, go to your Control Panel and look for the Device Manager. All of the devices will be organized according to their category. All you have to do is right-click what you want to disable and choose “Disable” from the drop-down. If you want to turn off your Wi-Fi, you’ll find this in the Network Adapters category. The graphics card will be under Display Adapters, and the optical drive under the DVD/CD-ROM Drives category. 6. Can You Spare Some Apps? When the power is running low, it’s best to use just one application at a time. If you keep multiple applications and processes running on your laptop, you can say “bye-bye” to your juice. They can really eat up battery life. Turn off anything you aren’t using. On your Windows-based laptop in the System Tray, click the icon that displays hidden icons. Here, you can see what apps might be running in the background. Then go to the Task Manager in the menu, and you can see apps that are open. Turn off what you don’t need. 7. What About Turning Off Certain Computing Processes? Just like you don’t need all those apps running, you should turn off processes that you don’t require. Anything that’s used to run video players or music can probably be disabled and won’t be missed. Also, turn off your cloud storage services, for now, to get back some precious battery life. You can turn them back on when you can find a plug. For MacBook users, go to Login Items in System Preferences and Users & Groups. Disable anything you don’t need right now. If you want to see what’s running, hold down the Option key and click on the battery indicator in the Menu or open the Activity Monitor in settings to see what’s running. Select and turn off anything you don t need. Apple OS X has a Power Nap feature that you can turn on. This will switch off email and Twitter feeds so you can maximize your remaining battery power. 8. Finally – Always Keep A Plug Splitter Handy If you can find someone who’ll share a plug, this is when you need that handy plug splitter. It converts one grounded outlet into three. A 3-outlet splitter is usually rated at 15 amps. You can plug three different devices into it. Just make sure their combined load is less than 15 amps or 1,875 watts. If the people using the plug aren’t so sure they want to share, maybe a free cup of coffee will change their minds. They can recharge from their coffee while you recharge your laptop battery! No matter how great your remote setup, getting work done in the airport where you can’t find a spare plug to recharge your

Create and Collaborate With The All-New and Completely Radical Microsoft Whiteboard What do most companies have in common these days? The need to collaborate on a multitude of projects. Enter the old-fashioned whiteboard. This key piece of “equipment” is where a group might gather around while someone draws or makes bulleted lists. They write down ideas and suggestions. Everyone joins the discussion with their own unique ideas. Then after the meeting is over, someone erases the whiteboard so the next group can use it. In today’s world, that’s a pretty outdated system. With all the technological advancements now available, surely there’s something better. Consider Microsoft’s new Whiteboard, a thing of beauty to behold. You can draw on it, make lists, share ideas, and create almost anything. Microsoft brings the old-fashioned whiteboard into our new modern digital world. Team members can draw, make notes, type, or just get wildly creative. One team member can take up where another left off. Collaborating is easy and fun and it inspires the imagination. Below are just a few of the tools available for Microsoft’s Whiteboard. Surface Pen and Collaborative Inking Tasks such as the creation of comics rely on inking for quality and authenticity. Activities associated with high-end software used in the creation of high-quality graphics and comic book effects require the collaborative approach. Microsoft Whiteboard provides a platform for contributors to team up on a project ensuring that authenticity and quality are top notch. In terms of inking, enhancement of graphics and texts, and presentation, the Whiteboard can’t be beaten. Geometry Recognition Geometry recognition has applications in security enhancements through the concept of hand geometry in identification systems. Identifications systems, in traditional standards, make use of widely-used and applied features such as fingerprinting, Iris scanning, and facial recognition. However, hand recognition, which is part of the Microsoft Whiteboard Surface Pen application, takes security to another level providing scientific association of the hand contours with uniqueness in identity authentication process. Table Conversion Metric conversion of various standards to derived versions is an essential daily activity for multiple applications. Microsoft Whiteboard provides this functionality ensuring that users in various fields with conversion needs are able to integrate this feature into their professional practice. Revisiting the collaborative use of students and organizations of the Whiteboard versions for PC, Mac, Android, Windows, and iOS shows that varying categories of users rely on teamwork to function and to impact growth. Financial analysis and data-related tasks make use of tables and the Whiteboard application provides an easier solution for multiple users working simultaneously. Automatic Table Shading The Surface Pen allows users to apply conditional formatting to their worksheets. For corporate and academic uses, conditional formatting made possible by the MS Whiteboard’s Surface Pen functionality allows for interaction with tabular features. And, it offers professional tools for presentations. With reference to the standards of creating tables and the definition of formatting rules in any given project, Surface Pen offers these features ensuring that professionalism is integrated into the task resulting in the reliable quality of projects. Shading is particularly useful in highlighting crucial sets of information, such as financial ratios in financial statements in the expression of priority decision-making pieces of data. Student and Organization Collaboration Higher educational institutions offer students opportunities to pursue their professional fields of study. Students also require teamwork to efficiently apply their acquired knowledge on a variety of projects. These requirements are hindered by the inability to work on projects from a remote location without necessarily meeting physically with the team. Organizations, on the other hand, require professionalism and collaborative dynamics to meet special organization-specific targets. In this regard, teamwork between employees is facilitated to not only support the functionality of an organization, but also the optimal utilization of time as a resource. Correlation of Adoption to Efficiency Organizations and individuals seeking maximum productivity will enjoy working with the MS Whiteboard application. Teamwork and project work within organizations is so important these days with people running in different directions. The collaborative features of the whiteboard application make it easy and fun for groups to get together and brainstorm. Individuals and organizations can improve their creativity while functioning at optimal levels. The Whiteboard also ensures that their activities can be tracked, authenticated, and shared with others. Corporate Application The MS Whiteboard provides a location diversity function to organizations that operate at an international level. The financial and economic climate of various regions requires organizations to operate from multiple locations taking advantage of emerging markets and sustainability. By collaborating, stakeholders of one organization can work together from different locations contributing to the same project. This approach makes organizational performance a shared duty where reliable ideas are taken into account, processed for their validity, and executed on-demand basis. However, the functionality of this application also runs into difficulties where teams do not share a common language but have to work on the same project. The translation feature of the Whiteboard provides a temporary solution since translated communication may not be as effective as same language communication. Academic Applications The onset of online academic courses is one of the significant applications of the MS Whiteboard. Through remote learning, tutors and students can work, present, discuss, and collaborate on academic tasks. The Whiteboard is perfect for schools of all sizes. Conclusion Teamwork has never been easier with Whiteboard. It’s the latest technology to take creation and collaboration to the next level for any team. This is a great tool for ad agencies and many other businesses who have a need to design and build things together. The Surface Pen opens up a variety of opportunities for students and leaders alike. Collaborate with others to create something amazing with Microsoft Whiteboard.