What is 5G? Here are the basics

Those crazy-fast 5G networks are right around the corner.

Unfortunately, they also come with their own vocabulary of tech jargon and buzzwords that wireless industry executives throw around a little too casually.

First off, a quick definition of 5G: It’s the next (fifth) generation of cellular technology which promises to greatly enhance the speed, coverage and responsiveness of wireless networks. How fast are we talking about? Think 10 to 100 times speedier than your typical cellular connection, and even faster than anything you can get with a physical fiber-optic cable going into your house. (You’ll be able to download a season’s worth of “Stranger Things” in seconds.)

In other words, it’s going to be huge.

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Harvey and Irma – Reminders to Adopt/Reevaluate Your Disaster Recovery Plan

The effects of hurricanes like Harvey and the approaching Irma should be a reminder to all businesses of the importance of disaster recovery planning. When a storm approaches, a business’s first concern is how to protect its employees and physical property. However, we shouldn’t forget that a natural disaster can also destroy a business’s information and technology assets critical to its success and continuity. Key steps to prepare and respond to a natural disaster can help minimize the blow. There are many aspects to comprehensive disaster recovery planning.

Below are some recommended best practices for an effective disaster recovery plan:

1. Build the Right Team. Companies should be clear about what they are setting out to do and involve the appropriate segments of their organizations.
2. Conduct a Risk Assessment. Before a company can develop a disaster recovery plan, it must first identify the information and technology assets it needs to protect, their locations, their role to the success of the business.
3. Employee Safety. Information and technology assets are critically important, but not at the expense of human life.
4. Develop a Plan. Having involved key personnel and assessed the risks, the business is in a position to develop an enterprise-wide disaster recovery plan. The disaster recovery plan should be in writing.
5. Update the Plan. As your business changes, grows, and adds locations and new people, the disaster recovery plan also may need to change to address those changes. A regular review of the plan is critical.

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Microsoft ends support for Windows Vista, here are your options

On Tuesday, Microsoft officially ended support for Windows Vista, leaving a host of Windows shops without security updates, technical content, and more. The 10-year support cycle for Vista is up, so Microsoft is moving to invest “resources towards more recent technologies” so it can “continue to deliver great new experiences.”

Although Microsoft has been planning the move for a while, it officially announced the end of Vista support in a blog post on the company’s website. According to the post, Windows Vista users “will no longer receive new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options, or online technical content updates from Microsoft.”

The news means that organizations will have a more difficult time maintaining a strong security posture and could lose access to some apps, as updates could render them incompatible with Vista. Here are four options for Vista users looking to make an upgrade.

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Apple Tops Samsung to Become Leader of the Smartphone Market

Apple has bested Samsung as the number one global smartphone maker, but only by a razor-thin margin.

A new Gartner report this week showed that Apple now has 17.9% of the total smartphone market compared with Samsung’s 17.8% market share. In the fourth quarter, Apple sold 77 million iPhones while Samsung sold 76.8 million of its lineup of smartphones, the report said.

It’s a bit of a milestone for Apple, which has been second to Samsung in terms of smartphones for eight consecutive quarters.

“The last time Apple was in the leading position was in the fourth quarter of 2014, when its sales were driven by its first ever large-screen iPhone 6 and 6 Plus,” said Gartner research director Anshul Gupta in a statement.

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Office Depot allegedly diagnosing computers with fake viruses to hit sales targets

For the vast majority of computer users, we defer to the experts if we get an issue. Some of us may be able to open the case, hammer out a few keystrokes, and perform fancy tech voodoo, but the rest are lost when it comes down to diagnosing and repairing computer trouble. If we have a problem, we either call our friend in the IT department at work and beg them to come over “just to take a look,” or we unplug everything and haul it off to a big box store’s tech support team. And if you happen to pick up a virus, it can be the trickiest problem of all.

A rather disturbing report has emerged. Has Office Depot’s tech team been telling users that they have a virus on their machine when they really don’t, just to meet company-mandated sales goals/targets? That’s the gist of this report in The Consumerist. It cites a story from CBS affiliate KIRO-TV in Seattle, where store employees claim that pressure to sell computer protection plans has led staffers to “misdiagnose” computers with viruses.

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The FCC just passed sweeping new rules to protect your online privacy

Federal officials delivered a landmark ruling in favor of online privacy Thursday, limiting how Internet providers use and sell customer data, while asserting that customers have a right to control their personal information.

Under the Federal Communications Commission’s new rules, consumers may forbid Internet providers from sharing sensitive personal information, such as app and browsing histories, mobile location data and other information generated while using the Internet.

The fresh regulations come as Internet providers race to turn their customers’ behavioral data into opportunities to sell targeted advertising. No longer satisfied with being mere conduits to the Web, these companies increasingly view the information they collect as a source of revenue.

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