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Showing posts from May, 2011

10 things you can do to conserve Internet bandwidth

By Brien Posey | May 21, 2011, 6:59 AM PDT As organizations move more and more services to the cloud, it is becoming increasingly important to make efficient use of the available Internet bandwidth. Here are a few techniques you can use to conserve Internet bandwidth in your own organization. 1: Block access to content-streaming Web sites If your organization allows employees to use the Internet for personal use, the first thing you should do is block access to streaming media sites, such as Netflix, YouTube, and MetaCafe. Playing the occasional YouTube video probably isn't going to have a crippling effect on your Internet connection, but streaming videos do consume more bandwidth than many other Web-based services. 2: Throttle cloud backup applications If you're backing up your data to the cloud, check to see whether your backup application has a throttling mechanism. An unthrottled cloud backup solution will consume as much bandwidth as it can. This might not be a big deal if

10 things you should know about open source before you use it

By Jack Wallen | May 18, 2011, 7:52 AM PDT I remember a day when the mention of open source in a business setting — no matter the size of the business — was unthinkable. The times they have changed, and open source is no longer considered a pariah. In fact, open source is often now considered first when a solution is needed. But when open source is being considered, certain things must be known. If you just dive in head first, there may well be some surprises waiting for you. To keep new open source users from losing their sanity, I thought it might be helpful to list a few things everyone needs to know about open source before it's put into place. 1: It's not just for Linux This is probably where most users get tripped up. When open source is brought up in a conversation, talk inevitably (and almost always initially) turns to Linux. This causes the public to assume open source is only for Linux. Not so. There are plenty of open source projects that are either cross-platform or

Effectively use social media for business applications

By Sonja Thompson | May 17, 2011, 3:45 PM PDT It is no secret that technology has changed the way we do business. Companies are no longer limited to certain markets by virtue of geographic location; any size or type of business, whether it is brick and mortar or web-based, can become a player in the global marketplace. Technology advances and new trends develop at a rapid pace, allowing for new marketing opportunities and creating the ability to expand a company's web presence and customer base. The latest trend businesses are utilizing is the application of social media as a business and marketing tool. Social media sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, have been around for a while and have been widely used by artists, writers, and musicians to promote their work. Companies are becoming aware that these sites can be used quite effectively for many business applications as well. A search of any social media site will come up with a profile listing for any type of product or service

10 reasons why you should give Slackware Linux a chance

By Jack Wallen | May 11, 2011, 11:37 AM PDT Slackware. You've either used it, thought about using it, or you're scared of using it. Slackware Linux is one of the most powerful distributions available. But that power comes with a price — it's not nearly as user-friendly as many other distributions. In fact, Slackware is typically bested only by Gentoo for level of difficulty. But if you avoid Slackware, you miss out on quite a lot. I can think of at least 10 reasons why you should give Slackware a try (or another chance). Before you hold up your hands in the middle of the installation and cry out, "I give up!" give these reasons a read. Note: This article is also available as a PDF download. 1: Stability If you're looking for the best of the best, you will be hard-pressed to find a Linux distribution that enjoys more stability than Slackware — and that's saying quite a lot! Slackware has been around for 20 years now, and for the longest time it has enjoyed

Hemat energi dengan Monitor LED-Backlit

Fokus Produk: Monitor LED-Backlit Disponsori oleh GovConnection dengan Ingat ketika bola lampu neon kompak pertama menekan pasar? Meskipun janji penghematan energi yang signifikan, beberapa orang bisa perut harga pembelian hampir $ 20 masing-masing. Tapi hari ini, ini lampu listrik-menyesap biaya sebagai sedikit sebagai $ 1,50 dengan rabat, dan lampu pijar telah termaktub dengan kegelapan. Banyak hal yang sama sekarang terjadi dengan menampilkan komputer, yang selalu menjadi konsumen energi besar. Dua tahun lalu, sekolah mungkin tidak akan memberikan pertimbangan serius ke monitor hemat energi baru yang datang ke pasar. Meskipun janji penghematan energi dan penggunaan bahan berbahaya yang lebih sedikit, monitor baru, backlit oleh dioda pemancar cahaya (LED), dilakukan label harga sekitar 35 persen lebih tinggi daripada rekan-rekan tradisional mereka. Tetapi penurunan harga, ditambah dengan fokus pelanggan besar pada penghematan energi dan jejak kaki lingkungan, telah mengubah m

Five tips for conducting webinars that work

By Katherine Murray | April 26, 2011, 2:45 PM PDT Picture this: You've been preparing for a big meeting all week. You plan to roll out the latest pitch for the products your group has been designing. All the top-level managers will be there and you really want to hit a home run. Minutes before the meeting, you walk quietly to your office and close the door. You put on your favorite jazz CD (quietly, in the background) and slip your feet into the bunny slippers beneath your desk. With a click or two of the mouse, you arrive in a virtual space, where you and your team present your creative genius… via webinar. 1: Educate as you inspire Even though webinars are becoming more widely used in all sorts of industry areas, how many have you participated in that have been done really well? Sure, you can use a basic presentation. You can drone on about your program, burying your participants under a mountain of facts. They can sit there passively, playing Angry Birds on their phone (you can&