3 Things to Consider When Choosing a Broadband Provider for Your Home Office

There are a number of things you should consider when you are setting up your small home office, and one of those things is your broadband Internet connection. You need one that is reliable, fast and reasonably priced. Here are the things you should consider when picking a broadband provider.

Reliability

When it comes to a home office broadband service, the most important concern is reliability -- does it work? A small home office is unlikely to have the budget to compensate for the lost sales that occur during online absences. Few small businesses can afford to lose money thanks to an unreliable broadband service, especially if technical assistance is un-comprehensive or absent. Ideally the broadband provider should have technicians available 24 hours a day. If your connection should fail, and if technical assistance is not available, you would start to experience considerable problems. If you need urgent restoration of your broadband connection, a poor provider may make you wait 3-4 days.

Price

There are offers and promotions that the small home office should take into account. These offers are the ones aimed at businesses, which means they cost more, but in general, they offer more assistance on dedicated channels. They attend to your needs more thoroughly and endeavour to solve your problems more quickly.

They will often offer more technical features too. Whether you have selected a provider or if you simply have a list of candidates, you should know if you will need to download more often than you upload -- or the other way around. If you are planning to send out bulk emails, or multiple emails with large files attached, then you are going to upload more than you download. If you have several computers in your home office, and they are being used every day by your staff -- then you are probably going to download more than you will upload. Once you are aware of whether you are going to be a big uploader or a big downloader, you will be able to pick an appropriate broadband provider. It will also enable you to pick a price plan that is going to suit your needs and your business.

Speed

The great thing about broadband speed for a small home office is that the Internet usage is only going to be split between a few computers (usually only one). This means that you will not have to purchase a router to ensure that all the PCs feel the same benefit. It also means that you will not need to invest in a very high bandwidth. The Internet usage of one (or a small few) PC is going to be too intermittent to genuinely feel the benefit of a bulkier bandwidth.

Conclusion

You should check out the offers and promotions that broadband providers offer businesses, because you are more likely to find a service package that suits you. Forget about bandwidth (speed) in your home office and simply go with an average speed. You can always upgrade to a faster speed of broadband at a later date if you find you have trouble. Finally, you should ensure that your broadband provider is reliable and has 24-hour technical support.

Author Bio: 

Edd Dawson has extensive experience as a broadband technician. He likes to demystify broadband topics on various blogs. Visit www.broadband.co.uk to find the best deal for your area.

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“It’s Just Email”: Misconceptions About BYOD Risks

“Off to the gym after work!” A quote from a celebrity or philosopher. A snapshot of the snow falling outside your office window. These are just some of the things you might post to your Facebook page from your mobile device while you’re at work. Or maybe you send a tweet about the latest celebrity scandal or forward an interesting article to your mom using your work email. On the surface, you might think these posts are completely innocuous. And speaking content-wise, you might be right. An Instagram photo of a snowy scene doesn’t present any inherent risks — unless of course, your company is the intended victim of a targeted attack and a cybercriminal is monitoring your activity, looking for a means to gain access to your company’s network.

The consumerization of IT — allowing employees to use their own devices for work functions — brings with it a host of security concerns that must be addressed. Because, as Trend Micro reports, many employers are shifting to a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environment in an effort to increase productivity and follow current trends — it’s important for IT departments (and employees) to understand what such a shift means in terms of security and avoid common misconceptions that often lead to security issues.

How Criminals Use Mobile Devices to Access Data

With smartphones and tablets enabled to perform almost any task that a computer can, employees are using their mobile devices to do everything from check email to produce quotes for customers. Mobile devices serve both as on-the-go storage devices, full of contacts and proprietary information, and a means of access to a corporate network.

The simplest way that criminals can access corporate networks and steal data is by getting their hands on the device. Every day, hundreds of mobile devices are lost or stolen. In some cases, the theft is deliberate, but in others, criminals just get lucky. Loss and theft is a definite concern among IT security professionals, but the greater security risk comes from the phone itself. Viruses, malware and madware specifically targeted to mobile devices are becoming increasingly common. Employee devices may become inadvertently infected with this harmful software via a malicious app or by the user opening an email or instant message on their phone. The app works in the background, collecting data such as contact lists, calls made and messages sent, or by monitoring logins to the company network.

When a criminal accesses the company network via a cloud-based service or an employee’s password-protected access, he can then cull information and data from the internal servers and transfer it to an external server — often before anyone notices that there is a problem.

Protecting Devices Requires a Plan

Although many companies mistakenly believe that accessing email — or other company networks — via mobile devices without safeguards isn’t really dangerous, just as many organizations mistakenly believe that protecting their network is difficult or impossible.

Securing your data in the BYOD environment requires a two-pronged approach: a comprehensive mobile-device-management (MDM) protocol coupled with data-protection solutions that limit access to the network without proper authentication and regularly audit the network for unauthorized or unusual access.

As part of the MDM plan, employees need to let go of the notion that they maintain full control of the devices they use for work. The best security plans allow for a certain amount of freedom — obviously, employees will be using their devices for personal reasons — with restrictions and safeguards. Acceptable-use policies, for example, may govern which websites or apps an employee can access with a work device, and remote locking or wiping capabilities will be employed when the device is lost or stolen or after a certain number of failed log-in attempts.

Understanding the realities of the BYOD environment and taking necessary precautions will save businesses time, money and public relations’ nightmares. Employees need to understand that the freedom to use their preferred device comes with some responsibilities and limitations — and that their email (and social media and app use) does make a difference and needs to be protected.

About the Author: Betsy Woodman covers social media, technology and the BYOD revolution for several blogs and websites. Betsy relies on Trend Micro products for all her security needs. 

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Tower Defense Games: From Atari to the iPad

Tower defense has been a popular game genre for decades. In this article, we'll present a fascinating rundown on the history of the tower defense game, from Atari's Rampart, to the ever-popular Plants vs Zombies and Angry Birds. We'll also discuss the new games coming out soon for tower defense game enthusiasts.

Rampart - First Tower Defense Game

TD games are one of the earliest strategy-based games dating back to 1983. A familiar classic that pioneered the tower defense genre is Rampart by Atari. Rampart is an arcade game that merges the puzzle and shoot 'em up genres. As it's widely ported, it has versions for most modern systems. In this game, you as the player have to defend a set of castles by alternately shooting and attacking enemies, and repairing damages to the castle within a time limit. To survive and gain victory, you have to protect and maintain your territory throughout the game. Involving strategic actions of attacking and repairing, the game quickly gained popularity worldwide.

As the game became a phenomenal success, it became ported into a number of gaming platforms such as Super NES, Game Boy, Gamecube, Xbox, PlayStation 2, and most recently PlayStation Network which offers multiplayer action.

It was originally released in 1990, and it was the first ever popular tower defense game. Atari is considered by many gaming enthusiasts as one of the key ideas behind the creation of Final Fantasy and Fort Condor. The first wave of hit tower defense games include Star Craft, Final Fantasy, War Craft and Age of Empire. By the new millenium, TD games started to appear in user-created maps for games like Starcraft, Warcraft III and Age of Empires II.

Introduction of Adoble Flash to Games

The advent of Adobe Flash has brought forth significant changes to the tower defense gaming experience. Independent game developers used Adobe Flash to enrich graphics and speed. They created stand-alone TD browser games leading to the influential launch of Desktop Tower Defense in 2007. Over the last few years, there have been hundreds of new themes and gameplay variations including medieval and space settings. There have also been child-friendly game versions such as those games where players protect a picnic from ants or pop balloons. In late 2007, Protector was released, and it was ranked as one of the best TD games that offered classes and specialization upgrades.

In 2008, mobile phone versions of various games were also introduced online. Some of the most outstanding games which have taken the gaming world by storm are Plants vs Zombies, Gem Craft, Protector, Immortal Defense and most recently, Angry Birds.

Plants vs Zombies is a thrilling and addictive zombie-themed tower defense game. It was originally developed by PopCap Games for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. The gameplay involves a homeowner placing different kinds of plants and fungi to stop the zombies from eating the resident's brain. It was first released on 2009, and upon massive success, it became available on iOS, Android, Xbox, Nintendo and PlayStation. The game received much critical acclaim from players and critics.

Another well-liked TD game is Angry Birds. The original version of the game was released on iOS in 2009. The game has been widely popular because of its unique combination of addictive gameplay, comical design and affordable price. It's now available on gaming consoles as well as PCs. With a staggering total of one billion downloads among all platforms, the game has been considered as the largest mobile app success today.

Different Versions of Tower Defense Games

After 2008, a lot of game consoles started to make their own versions of various tower defense games. Xbox 360 made a version of Defense Grid; PlayStation did versions on two games named Pixel Junk Monster and Savage Moon; Nintendo DS released a hand-held version of games called Lock's Quest and Ninja Town. Today, there are numerous mobile phone tower defense games available in the market.

Upcoming Tower Defense Games to be Released in 2013

The popular zombie-themed TD game Plants vs Zombies has an upcoming sequel, Plants vs Zombies 2, which will be released in late spring of 2013. Other games that you should watch out for next year are Sentinel 4: Dark Star which is currently being developed by Origin8 for Android and iOS devices, Nightmare Guardians which is set to arrive on tablets, and Lovers in Dangerous Spacetime which is going to be introduced in both PC and Mac.

Ryan Thomsen has been extensively involved in game development. He enjoys sharing his tips and insights on various games blogs. Visit www.free-games.net for more games.

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Best Android Apps for Bloggers

I still remember the day when I got Internet connection in my home. The first thing that I searched for, was 'How to Make Money Online'. It's been quite time of mine being an Internet addict, and yes, I feel proud to say that I am making money online by blogging. Do you also join the queue of bloggers with me? If this is so, then you might be familiar that 'Smart Work' is a big demand of blogging world.

Do you know that your Android device can work as a great blogging tool for you. Thumbs down, if you did not know it earlier. Just go to Google Play and you will find tens of thousands of apps, designed to help bloggers. I have picked up the 5 best out of them and sharing the list of same here.

WordPress

Just tell me, which blogging platform do you use? WordPress, right? If yes is the answer coming from your side, then you must download the official Android WordPress app. Though it can't work as a platform for complete blogging, but still, you can do the basic blogging tasks on your Android device, by using this app. The basic tasks include post editing, title saving, comments approval or rejection etc. Moreover, you need not to pay even a single penny to use this app.

Blogger

Google's blogging platform 'Blogger' is preferred over WordPress by many bloggers, and for such bloggers, Android 'Blogger' app is must. Talking about its features, one can perform almost the same blogging tasks, that he/she can with WordPress Android app. Like WordPress app, this one is also free to download.

Fliptoast

In blogging, one comes across other bloggers in blogosphere and makes friendly relations with them. Well, this is also very important, and as a blogger, you must stay active on social networking websites. Though there are separate official apps by every social networking site, but better to get all-in-one. Fliptoast is the solution to it. You can stay connected with happenings in your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, at same instance, by using this app on your Android device. The simple and intuitive user interface of the app enables it to shine at the top in its category.

Dictionary.com

The popular online dictionary, 'Dictionary.com' is having its official Android app, and it is must for every blogger as it may happen that you may not be familiar with the meaning of word that you are going to use in your blog post. That 'unknown' word for you can land up as poor quality of your post. So it's better to check the meaning, and the best way to do it is by using this app.

Google Analytics

Keep track of your website/blog's traffic while on the go, by using official Android Google Analytics app on your Android. You get all those features in this app, that you can find in Web version of Google Analytics.

Author Bio: 

This is a guest post by Harsha from Go Harsh! Tech blog. He is a web enthusiast and blogger. He writes reviews on new mobile phones, iPhones, Androids  and windows mobile phones. This article is written by him to list out the best blogger apps for android phones. He also helps newbies in understanding what is android phone , gadgets, & latest features on phones.

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How to Use 3D Modelling Software in Game Design

Although today's video and computer games have become increasingly complex, the software used to design them is more accessible than ever. To create a believable, engaging game you need to be able to create memorable characters and an interactive, 3-dimensional environment. This requires a storyline, original artwork, and the right technology to get the job done. With the help of 3D modelling software, you can start putting together these pieces of the puzzle to create your own games. It's helpful to take a closer look at how to use this complex software to start putting together your own virtual world on screen.

Getting Started

Before you choose the right software package to work with, you'll first want to do some basic brainstorming. How many characters will you need to create? Will they be similar in appearance or will you need to be able to create a wide range of creatures? Drafting a basic storyline and having some idea of what type of environments you will be creating can point you in the right direction towards choosing an animation program to suit your needs. More complex characters and storylines may require a professional set of tools like 3D studio max, while a basic game can be constructed with programs like DX Studio or 3D Rad. The best programs will offer you a variety of special effects, templates for creating characters, and adequate tutorials and support to get started. 

Creating Characters

One of the primary features of computer modelling software is its ability to create characters in a three-dimensional space onscreen. This allows you to create more lifelike creatures than you would with traditional animation techniques. Some programs will give you templates to work with, as well as wireframes that can be built on with anatomical features and realistic muscular materials. Shading and layering tools will help bring these features to life.

Special Effects and 3D Rendering

One of the most complex yet important aspects of 3D video game production is rendering. This refers to the process of translating the various mathematical codes that make up a 3D design into a final 2D image that still looks three-dimensional. For rendering to be successful, the whole scene has to have the right lighting, colour valuation, and texture in each pixel of the final 2D image. This can be incredibly time-consuming without the right 3D software, which speeds up the process by pre-storing lighting and texture information for greater accuracy. Many computer programs will automatically render as you are designing your game, but you may have to follow this step after your animation designs are complete.

Special effects and tools are also an important part of finalizing your images for the screen. Software toolkits let you work on specific textures, such as hair, fur, or cloth. You can then start building the environment around your characters with interactive objects and individual blades of grass. It's your work, so you can use these effects to your advantage. Particle effects allow you to control the movement of substances like snow or fire according to scripts or direct manipulators, which can also add to the realism of your scene.

With a combination of preliminary brainstorming, character development and shading, and final rendering, you can use today's animation software to bring your unique vision to life. 

Author Bio:
Martina writes for AutoDesk, a marketplace of 3D studio max experts and 3D Software that helps connect users .

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Apple iTune Launched in India

At last the wait has finished for the Indian fans of iPhones as iTunes stores are launched in India with other 52 countries. All iPhone users of India were waiting for the launch of iTune stores as this way through which proud owners of Apple devices can download or listen to music or video in a legal way. According to the official announcement made by the Apple, presently the iTune will offer list of around 20 million songs from which user can purchase any number of songs as per his / her choice. From a long time people of different countries were waiting for this service to be launched in their respective country.

According to the official release the prices of the songs will range from Rs 7 to Rs 12 per song which will have latest Bollywood albums and the whole album will cost from Rs 70 to Rs120 depending on the demand and popularity of the album. There are many options available in iTune like you can rent and download a movie, the cost of movie differs as per the version selected by the user, like high definition version will cost somewhere around Rs 490 and same movie in standard version will cost around Rs. 290. If user does not want to pay that much price then the same movie can be rented for Rs 120 for High definition version and Rs 8- for standard version.

This is really a good thing but if you look at the present Indian market where lot of websites are offering latest bollywood songs for free of cost, one might feel that iTunes will not get the response what they are used to get in other countries. It is true that the digital music industry is growing and the revenue share is increasing but, when you have plenty of sites or blogs that offers you latest songs free of cost then why one will go to buy it. However, the iPhones users have welcomed the launch of iTunes warmly. Apple need to think innovative ideas to lure its customer on this new platform and make it a hit in the country.

If thought in other way this may be just the start of a revolution, because competitors like Microsoft will not sit quite and let Apple grab the market so easily and we can definitely witness the music service of Microsoft launching soon. It has already around 30 million tracks and it will have some more alluring features by next year. So, that also will be nice when we have competition, we will get good service at better price.

Presently the only competitor of Apple iTune is Nokia Music store, which is presently offering around 5 millions songs to its user and it is also offering the service to Flipkart digital music store. If the sources are to be believed, then Nokia music store is getting over a million downloads per day on its music store. This should be good news for the Apple Company and like Nokia did, Apple should plan something like exclusive release of audio albums on their platforms. Recently Nokia had done same thing with Priyanka Chopra’s debut album, it was exclusively released on Nokia Music Store and this is the right way of grabbing the market share.

Author Bio:

This is a Guest article by Chandu blogger from India runs various tech blogs like http://techwaffy.com/

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