Aug 01 2014

A Busy Summer!

Yes, we know we’ve been neglecting our blog here… it’s because we’ve been so busy taking care of our clients!

 

Complete! From Top Left - Phone system, phone patch connections ("66 blocks"), Network patch panel. 2nd row (from center) - Comcast digital voice interface, Comcast cable box (not connected to anything right now), Cisco network switch. 3rd Row - Voice mail processor, Comcast network interface and WiFi gateway, UPS. At extreme left, next to the phone system is a SiriusXM receiver (with antenna at top right) for Music-on-hold.

Complete!

Network Wiring

That’s a lot of wires!

Pretty Network and Phone Jacks!

Network and Phone Jacks

Swimmers... Take your Mark!

Swimmers… Take your Mark!

So far this summer, we have:

  • Completely wired a brand new office for one of our clients with phone and network (35 connections!)
  • Expanded network connections in a client’s home office, procured and installed a new workstation for a new employee
  • Redesigned and migrated a website to a new content management system platform
  • Diagnosed and troubleshot phone problems at a client site — it was Verizon’s fault!
  • Rescued a failing workstation (repeated “Blue Screen of Death”)– it’s now back in service and going strong!
  • Produced two full-length videos — one for a local theatre company, the other for an All-star Cheerleading program.
  • Designed a complete VoIP (Voice-over-IP) phone system, including custom queues, messages, notifications, etc.
  • Designed and built (from scratch) a custom swim team start system with Event and Heat display!

 

These are just some of the things we can do for you!  Contact us today for your custom consultation.

Mar 03 2014

Snow… Yet Again…

Shot out our front window this morning with our GoPro Hero3+ Camera.  Enjoy!

Feb 19 2014

New Domains are Coming…

Web Browser

Get ready for .sexy, .tattoo, .ninja and .guru (among others)

The days of .com, .net, .org and .edu being the most recognizable part of a web address are coming to an end. Imagine going to www.amazon, www.microsoft or even ravens.football… It’s happening now. In fact, I’ve even set up this website to live at kno.technology (the .technology domain just came online today).

It’s all because of a change in the way the internet works. ICANN, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which acts as a sort-of “traffic cop” for internet addresses, started a process in 2005 to expand the number of “Global Top-Level Domains” (hereafter called gTLDs) on the net. Nearly 2000 applicants requested new gTLDs and ICANN has been sorting them out since 2012. The first 100 or so have gone live over the past few months. There’s still a battle over domains like .amazon (should it belong to the company or the river?) and .apple (company or fruit growers?)

It’s going to take a little getting used to — we’ve been so accustomed to the familiar .com since people started logging on over 25 years ago. Now the number of gTLDs has increased five-fold in just the last 3 months.

Some of my absolute favorites that are already approved and coming online soon: .sexy, .tattoo, .ninja and .guru

You can take a look at the list of newly-delegated gTLDs (which is growing every day) here.

Jan 24 2014

Remote Control – not just for your TV

Teamviewer

Teamviewer is just one of the many remote access tools out there.

As many of you know, I live and breathe on remote access to not only my computers, but my customers’ machines as well.  It’s a heck of a lot easier to figure out what’s going on with a computer when I can virtually get my eyes on what’s going on.  The good folks over at Lifehacker just wrote a great article on a number of tools that are available to help you control your computer from wherever you are.  Take a look.  And of course, if you’re note sure how to implement it, we can help!

Jan 05 2014

Yahoo! User? You might just have malware…

Yahoo! LogoMultiple Media Sources and Tech Blogs are reporting that Yahoo’s advertising network (which inserts ads on Yahoo-owned websites) has been serving up malicious content for the past week or so.  It appears the malware uses a vulnerability in Oracle’s Java software that is still on most computers.

While it appears most of the infections were in Europe, it’s yet another reminder to ensure that you have up-to-date virus protection software on your computer.

In addition, I personally recommend disabling Java (but not JavaScript — totally different thing) unless you have a specific application that requires it.

Dec 12 2013

Changing E-mail Addresses… It’s Not That Hard!

E-mailLet me ask a question…  Why are you still using that old e-mail address from 15 years ago? (AOL users – I’m talking to you!)  Why do you change your e-mail address when you move from Comcast to Verizon or vice-versa?  It’s time to get your own e-mail address that’s relatively “future-proof”… something like “yourname@nullyourname.com”.   Or, if you’d rather not spend a few bucks, at least move to one of the good cloud e-mail providers like Gmail or Outlook.com.  You may think that changing e-mail addresses is too hard to do.  Well, I’m here to tell you, it’s not.  I was thinking about writing up a detailed guide on how to go about doing it, but the great guys at Lifehacker beat me to it, with their awesome article “How to Change Your Email Address without Screwing Everything Up”

A good friend of ours just made the switch from Yahoo (yuck!) to Gmail (yay!).  You CAN do it. Or if you think you can’t, give us a call and we can help!

 

Dec 09 2013

You need a UPS!

Picture of a UPS Unit

A good UPS might just save your computer from a power catastrophe!

No, I’m not talking about the guys with the big, brown trucks. I’m talking about an Uninterruptable Power Supply.

While we may have dodged the ice storm bullet this time, winter weather (in fact, weather at all times of the year) can wreak havoc with sensitive electronics. Power outages (and the resulting surge when the power comes back on) can smoke your expensive stuff.

Your mission-critical hardware (servers, workstations, storage) should absolutely be protected by a UPS. Not only will it allow you keep working when the power goes out (for a short time, of course), it will protect your equipment from surges and spikes that can happen at any time.

For home and small offices, I recommend a good quality UPS at each workstation and server. It’s a modest investment that will pay dividends in the longevity of your hardware.

We can certainly help you find the right UPS for your machines. Just give us a holler and we can make a recommendation.

Also, Lifehacker, one of my favorite sites, recently rated the Five Best Battery Backups/UPS Units. It’s worth a look to give you some ideas.

Dec 04 2013

Welcome to KNO Technology Group!

Thanks for stopping in… here’s a quick introduction to what we’re all about…

Dec 04 2013

Holiday Time Is Here!

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Good Grief!

According to a survey by GiftCard.com, electronic gifts are the top gifts given during the holidays.  New technology is introduced to us almost daily.  With new phones, tablets, laptops, and even televisions, it can get quite overwhelming!  Good Grief!

Don’t forget, KNO Technology Group, LLC can serve ALL your technical needs.  Did you get a new television to redo your family room?  Do you want to make sure your new laptop is networked with all of your computer devices in your home?  We are happy to help you big or small.  Make sure you contact us, we’re happy to make your electronics work like new for a long time to come.

Dec 03 2013

Buying a new Laptop? Battery Life is Key…

Laptop with Empty Battery

Running on Empty (Courtesy ZDNet)

Sounds like a no-brainer, right?  It hasn’t been that many years since we were used to getting only a couple hours of runtime out of our laptops.  But batteries have been getting better and laptops have been getting more energy-efficient.  James Kendrick over at ZDNet says the new target for battery life is a whopping 8 hours.  Why are some laptops only getting 4-5 hours? The answer is easy: manufacturers are using smaller batteries to make their laptops lighter — remember, they’re also trying to compete with the tablet market.

The bottom line is this:  if you’re in the market for a new laptop, especially if you’re a mobile worker (or you have employees who are), make sure the battery life of your laptops aren’t sub-par.