Data Doctors Tech Tips

If you've had enough of all of the inconveniences of getting on a conference call, especially if your joining from your smartphone or tablet, today's tip is for you. If you're the one responsible for creating the session, think about making a change from the old way, with a much better new way. A web tool known as "UberConference" is the best conferencing platform I've ever used because it's justand#160;better than the old school options.and#160; No more typing in a long PIN number when you're on your phone or put up with the constant bleeping as people enter or exit the call. You can avoid having to wonder who's on the call or who is currently talking because it's all on your display visually. The host is always in control making it easy to mute individual participants that subject the group to their on-hold music when they put you on hold.and#160; You can also record sessions, provide screen sharing and plenty of other awesome features that will greatly improve the call for everyone, whether they are joining via their computer or smartphone.and#160;and#160; Try it yourself atand#160;http://www.uberconference.com

Our smartphones and tablets have more powerful processors than the what NASA had to work with for getting man to the moon in the late 60's. Your mobile devices also contain your very private thoughts and a loads of sensitive information that you want to keep from the prying eyes of others. For some reason, so many of you still don't think of your mobile devices the same way you do your laptop or desktop computer, but you must know that they are the same thing, especially when it comes to storing personal information. This lack of connection is why so many of you still haven't added a basic step to protecting that valuable personal info by simply activating the lock screen option. Many of you don't activate it because you don't want to be bothered every time to input the code, but the alternative is pretty dangerous. Their is an exponential increase in likelihood of losing or worse, having a mobile device stolen, so just take a minute to protect your devices while you're thinking of it. The rest of the security features in your phone are completely useless if you don't lock the front door!

Lots of Internet users are more frequently thinking about online privacy for all their digital interactions. When it comes to search engines, there's is a way to stay anonymous if you use alternative sites such as https://DuckDuckGo.com It's a pretty obscure secure engine but it gets a lot of attention from privacy advocates because it doesn't do what the popular search engines do: it doesn't track anything. It won't save your search history, the dates or times of your queries, info about your operating system and computer or any of the other tracking points commonly used by virtually any website that you visit. While DuckDuckGo excels in the privacy arena, don't expect it to be as powerful as Google. This might change the search results that you may be used to seeing. If you want to see the difference, do your own search tests using the same queries so that you can see what you're giving up in exchange for the privacy.

Whether you are technical or not, in business, it's likely to find yourself in a situation where you are facing a tech-based decision when your working on a website. Having technical decisions placed in front of non-technical decision makers results in tough decisions on the plethora of web technologies available for the project. Both Fortune 500 CEO's and small business owners know that what other companies are using on their websites can help make the decision a bit more informed. An excellent tool at https:\\BuiltWith.com can be very helpful in understanding web technology trends in general. Just by typing in any website address at the site will generate a report on the various technologies used by that site; also good for knowing what your competitors are using. They also generate reports on web technology trends allowing you to compare the technology that you are in the process of evaluating to see if it's out of favor or being used more. The Builtwith.com web tool is a great and free intelligence gathering opportunity that I would highly recommend to anyone considering a web tech decision.

If you're household is like most in the U.S., you have lots of devices that need to be charged via USB cable which requires a lot of adapters to plug into outlets in order to get them charged. This forces you to gather many of the devices to one location instead of just charging wherever an outlet exists.and#160; If you'd like a solution to make charging your USB devices just about anywhere in the house or office you'd like, checkout the 'Snap Power' solution.and#160; Snap Power has created replacement power outlets which include USB ports on both sides for charging your mobile devices.and#160; You can get them for as little as $20 with varying discounts when you purchase packs of 2 to or more.and#160; The install can be done in a minute or two because there are no wires or batteries needed for these unique plates that use their built in power prongs to connect.and#160; So just by replacing any wall plate in your house, you can add a new dual charging station.and#160; Check them out atand#160;https://www.snappower.com

If you are among the millions that has acquired one of Apple's larger screen phones but you only use it in the portrait mode, you are missing out on many hidden features.and#160; Virtually every productivity app on your phone from the calendar to email to messaging have special features that only become available when you flip your phone sideways.and#160; For example, you can see your emails in split screen mode, which lists your messages on one side and a preview of messages on the other side.and#160; Viewing stock quotes sideways also makes use of the extra real estate using the split screen to provide more detailed info on the stock you're viewing.and#160; Try typing with your iPhone sideways to give you more room per key and in some cases, provides some additional keys.and#160; You will discover lots of useful hidden features when you simply turn your phone to the landscape mode. Just start viewing all your apps in landscape mode to see what you've been missing.

Anyone that has a website or a blog for a small business knows that it's one of the best ways for customers to get to know your business. But do you actually know if your website is always available? Are your customers able to connect to it whenever they want or is there downtime that you can't see? If you are not 100% certain that your site is always up, you should take a look at https://uptimerobot.com UpTimeRobot can monitor your website every 5 minutes and it is completely free. Sign up for a free account, you can start monitoring in about 30 seconds on up to 50 sites. You will get alerts by e-mail when any of your websites take a dive, so you won't have to worry about some else alerting you hours after it went down. If you don't think this is a real problem, guess again! It commonly happens to websites of all sizes. If you have an e-commerce site, you know how much downtime can cost you. Their monitoring dashboard is simple to understand, so you can quickly view the history of your site and see repeat problems that you wouldn't otherwise know about. Again, this free tool at https://www.uptimerobot.com can monitor up to 50 websites for you.

Has your pup gotten porky? It fido starting to fill out? When your dog has become more of rug and less of a running partner, pay attention to today's tech tip. If you are wondering if your dog sits around too much, a device for dogs called the 'FitBark' can let you know. The small device can track just how active your dog is during the day with something they call a daily BarkScore. Before the FitBark, there were lots of fitness traking options for us humans but nothing for our 4-legged friends. With this tiny device on your dog's collar, the FitBark will let you know how active your dog is being at any given moment. Even when you are out of town, you can see when the dog sitter took your fur baby for a walk and how long those walks are. When your dog is feeling a little sick, giving your vet the details of your dog's activity in the past few days, including how they have been sleeping can be very useful. The FitBark will let you see how much activity your dog has gotten while you were at work and if they need some more. It should keep their tail wagging!

Ever forgotten any of your passwords? Don't feel bad, we all have. Did you know that if you get locked out of your Facebook account that one of your friends can help you get back in? Facebook launched a security feature some time back called "Trusted Contacts" to serve as an optional way for users to recover their accounts with the help of their online friends. To use this option, you just pick 3 to 5 of your Facebook friends that you trust that can get you back in control of your account if you ever get locked out. If it happens, Facebook can send a special security code to those friends you previously chose, who can forward these codes to you so you can get back in. You will need at least three security codes to recover your account, which keeps any one friend from using their recovery key to access your Facebook account. If you set this up, you won't have to answer security questions or fill out long online forms to try to prove you are who you say you are; your trusted friends make it possible. To select your Trusted Contacts, go to the security settings section of your Facebook profile, which will generate a notification to those friends that they have been enlisted as your trusted contact. Think of it as picking your friends that you would trust with a spare car or house key.

Anyone that owns a home can relate to the classic Tom Hanks movie 'The Money Pit'. Even when your home isn't the money pit that is portrayed in the movie, it still seem like it's an endless list of tasks that's waiting for you to get done. One of the best ways to avoid surprises is by being proactive with maintenance for items that you know are in need of regular attention. Anyone that wants a little assistance remembering or even learning which maintenance tasks need to be done should look into a web resource and app called BrightNest. BrightNest will allow you to create a customized list of tips and also lets you schedule thoses tasks based on your home's needs. It does so, by you building a profile of what appliances you have, the type of flooring and countertops and if you have a pool or not, for example. Beyond the scheduled maintenance tasks, there offer lots of tips for cleaning, organizing and maintaining those common areas of you home. Using the mobile app provides you with reminders and alerts, while serving as a reference guide when you're shoppting at your hardware store. For a digital assistant to keep you on top of the important tasks of being a homeowner, go to https://BrightNest.com for lots of free help!