Earth Day is over but your thumb is still Green.

Earth day has passed but that doesn’t absolve you from reducing your carbon footprint until the next Earth day. It stands as a reminder to us all that the world is living and we need to nurture and care for it just as we have our cars, lawns and children. With this in mind, we would like to give you a few easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint and easily live just a little more Green.


Stop Wasting Energy!

Turn off any electronics when not in use: This includes unplugging appliances, chargers, lamps etc. Maybe try putting everything into a power strip for one quick flip of the switch.

Adjust your Thermostat: 68 in the winter and 78 in the summer. Once adjusted, leave it alone. You can always put on warmer or lighter clothes.

Change your light bulbs: Did you know that changing to florescent bulbs (from incandescent) uses 75% less energy and provides equal, greater and longer lasting light?

Washroom items: Most water heaters have something called a ‘vacation’ mode. It provides warm water (not the soothing hot water we like so much) and uses much less energy. Best for use in the summer. Also, instead of using hot water in the washer, try washing everything on ‘cold.’ There isn’t much difference in the cleaning process.

Consumables can hurt!

Buy local and organic foods if available. The distance is much shorter than where your Columbian coffee bean comes from.

Reusable items: Grocery bags and water bottles. Find reusable items for your regular needs. Plastic water bottles and bags are thrown away at an alarming rate. Many aren’t even recycled. Reduce this by getting a reusable grocery bag or only using one water container that can be re-filled.

Composting: I didn’t understand this concept until my wife started yelling at me! But it helps. Starting a compost pile reduces the amount of waste you throw away and creates perfect soil for a garden (eventually).

Why do we need to Drive everywhere?

Did you know that back in the day, they didn’t have automobiles? No really! They didn’t. People walked, rode bicycles, or rode on horseback.  I’m not saying you should go get a horse, but if you have an errand that is near your home; try walking instead of driving. It lowers pollution and is healthy exercise for your body and mind.

These are just a few ways (out of the millions) you can reduce your waste. It’s imperative that we at least make an effort to reduce, reuse and recycle because there are only so many resources available to use. Over manufacturing and consumption may be the ruin of us. So if the monitor you are reading this on is failing miserably; give us a call and we will dispose of it for you in our E-waste plant.  If you want to save the world call us today to recycle your electronics!

LifeSize ClearSea: Merging Office Conferencing with Mobility.

In the past if your headquarters wanted to video conference with your overseas or cross country offices, they would have integrate an expensive solution in each office. With the surge of worldwide BYOD policies people have begun using programs like Skype, Facetime and Google+ Hangouts for inter-office conferencing. Many businesses still require in office attendance, but employees that are unable can rely on mobility for a solution. The problem is how do you merge the two technologies to work congruently? LifeSize has created a new product called Clearsea which has your answer.  It is a video conferencing solution that you can use with any device, has innovative features and saves your company money in the long run. Think of it as, ‘one Video Conferencing Solution to rule them all!’

ClearSea can be deployed as a server in your system or as loadable software. Once loaded you are able to add any devices you wish. Anything that supports video can be used for conferencing. Supported are PC’s, Mac’s, along with Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. So if you are home sick and need to conference in; all you need to do is pick up your tablet and dial the ClearSea conference number to seemingly be right at work. It is completely interoperable and has powerful collaboration tools so that it is simpler than ever to connect.

This solution has many features that are unlike its predecessors and enhance your HD conferencing experience.  ClearSea supports up to 1080p for laptops (720p for mobile devices), accepts calls from any H.323/SIP device, provides ‘Clustering’ for scalability, comes as a hardware appliance or virtual software, has a built in Firewall and allows Far-end camera control. All the components of  HD Video conferencing made especially for mobility.

Flexibility is also an important note for installations. Choosing between hardware and software versions allows you to easily manipulate your network to adapt to the ClearSea platform. Licensing plans are available which allow for smooth budget planning and the built in Firewall will save you time and money for additional hardware and IT resources. With increasing BYOD policies you will find ClearSea will also save you cost on buying new equipment.

With LifeSize ClearSea you are able to combine personal and professional conferencing devices. This is an excellent way to provide cost saving and simplicity in your business model. Not many companies offer these evolving solutions. They bridge the gap between technologies and make it more comfortable to work from anywhere. LifeSize is adapting to modern technology in order to save you time, pain and money. Utilizing their products will not only help you, but your company’s’ pockets as well.

How to Futureproof your Voice and Data Networks.

Prior to convergence, a business had two separate networks that supported communication requirements. The voice network was specifically designed to deliver the real-time voice requirements with a point-to-point platform. This creates a physical dedicated path for every phone which ensures that voice packets travel in order, on time and with no interference. A data network on the other hand is distributed with no standardization. This platform came as a result of the network switch limitations. Businesses with many users created this platform which was acceptable for the near-time demands of data. Waiting for a data file to open is acceptable as packets are disassembled, travel over the many switches and reassembled before being opened at the desktop. A one, two, or three second delay does not create alarm or concern about your network efficiency.

Does it make sense that customers are forced to abandon a proven reliable point-to-point network and instead layer voice on a distributed data network that has no standard platform built specifically for requirements of data? Networking switch manufacturers created the methodology without fully appreciating the complexities they created for customers, IT staff and those who serve them.

Many company's are attracted to the business and financial benefits of having a Unified Communications platform. However, they also expect what they always had from their voice experience. They want voice quality-of-service regardless of data network loads, they want reliable networks with voice continuity (even when the data network fails), and for the IT staff; they want a simple network to manage that ensures the effective delivery of both voice and data. The hope is that it will  result in good user experiences that drive the adoption of value added applications


In 2009, Phybridge introduced the award winning UniPhyer that is solving many of the complexities around optimizing the LAN for convergence. The premise is based on leveraging; not abandoning the point-to-point platform of the voice infrastructure that creates an IP network path which compliments and extends the existing data network while optimizing it for voice and data convergence. To do this a special network switch needed to be invented to deliver Ethernet beyond the 300 ft.  That power needed to be delivered over a single pair. The Phybridge UniPhyer was designed specifically to handle the real-time requirements of voice leveraging and the existing point-to-point voice solution. The UniPhyer is the only network switch to deliver Ethernet and Power over Ethernet (POE) over a single pair of wire with reach of 1,200 ft. Combining your new and old systems has never been easier.

Facebook Home is Not a Phone...yet.

What many people are calling a ‘Facebook phone’ is actually the HTC First. It is a mid-range Android that sells for $99. What is unique about this is that it’s the first handset to have Facebook software ingrained in its system (instead of an App or Apps). Facebook cut a deal with Android (Google) to implement new software for the home screen so they could better reach their global market and simplify interaction.

Let’s talk about the HTC First, It is nothing special. It has a 4.3 inch screen, runs 4.1.2 stock Android (Current is 4.2), has a 5 MP camera, 16 GB storage and a 1.4Ghz Dual Core chip. This phone will work for your average person who doesn’t use the phone for much more than calls and checking a few sites or emails. In comparison to today’s top of the line phones this really is a POS, but it will work if you want to give it to your 13 year old for their first phone.

The only kicker here is that it has Facebook Home. Home has basically collected the Facebook, messenger, and notification apps and built them together as a home screen for your phone called 'Cover Feed'. What this means is when you wake up your phone, you will automatically be able to see your Facebook Newsfeed and begin interacting with your friends.  Each update will show as a full page article and you can comment/like or scroll to the next article without having to open up any applications. Any messages you receive will pop up something called a ‘Chat Head’ that shows a little bubble of the friend who is contacting you. This leads us to notifications which show up as a rectangular box and can easily be moved with gesture controls. One advantage of Home is that it has integrated all of your notifications with its 'Cover Feed’ so that you never miss anything.

You can still access your Android app’s by tapping the menu screen. You can even turn off Home and just use the phone as the stock handset it truly is. However, the reason you would buy this handset is to better integrate your real life with your online life. It allows you to check and update much more efficiently than the application does and offers you a clean look to your ‘feeds.’ This is the prototype model and it may need to bake a little longer, but for now it is an interesting new user interface that promotes sharing in the online community.

What are Bitcoins?

Lately the world has been conversing about Bitcoin and its soaring prices. I kept hearing about it and kept wondering what it is, until finally I decided to do my research and figure this out. What I discovered was a digital-only form of currency that has been around since 2009. It can be spent, traded and sold just like stocks. There is no central bank or government that can regulate it and you can buy or ‘Mine’ it for free. The only catch is that it is digital currency which is tempting for hackers.

Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonymous person or group of people who designed and created the original Bitcoin software, a community of developers runs Bitcoin as a free open source project. It relies on an internet based peer to peer network and the ‘money’ is automatically given to ‘Bitcoin Miners’ who confirm transactions as they are added to a transaction log (every 10 minutes). The log is authenticated by digital signatures.

Every 10 minutes, 25 new Bitcoins are generated. In 2017 this quantity will be halved to 12.5 and every four years after, the same will happen until all 21 million Bitcoins have been ‘mined’ and put into circulation(around the year 2140). At today’s date there are over 11 million active Bitcoins with a worth of over $2.3 billion.

You can obtain Bitcoins either by trading, buying or mining them. Purchasing is the easiest way but it comes at the expense of your hard earned cash. In order to buy, you will have to sign up for an online service like MyWallet, Coinbase or Instawallet (no longer active). You link your bank account to your online wallet (much like PayPal) and from there you can buy or sell coins at the market price.

 Mining takes computer processing power and often bears little fruit unless you are part of a mining group or have a small farm of supercomputers. Mining involves running software on your computer to solve the complex mathematical equations that make up the Bitcoin transactions. The miner gets a payout for this service and is then allowed to sell. The issue is that your computer is up against groups of computers that will probably mine the coin before you. So you will want to join a mining group that splits the rewards of coin transaction. It may take time to build your Bitcoin fortune but it’s free.

The crisis in Cyprus, economic uncertainty in Europe, increased media coverage and a lack of faith in traditional currencies has led to the rise in alternative currencies. Bitcoin value has gone up and down. In 2011 the USD to BTC exchange rate plummeted from $33 to $2.51 and has taken until February to recover. Since February of 2013 though, Bitcoin value has gone from $30 all the way up to $210 as of April 9^th. In the past, power outages and hacks have devalued the coin and this rapid rise has fueled concern that it is experiencing a bubble that could pop at any time.
 

For now, it would be good to think of Bitcoin like Facebook credits. You purchase them to buy goods and play around but you wouldn’t want to put your savings into it would you? If you wish to transfer small amounts of money without government regulations/taxes then Bitcoin is your market. Just be carefull not to put all your coin in one basket, this is virtual not brick and mortar.

Coming Soon: improved voice quality over your phone.

For the first time in recent years the mobile telephone industry will be offering a feature that actually applies to speaking over the handset. Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T will begin rolling out HD Voice (better known as Wideband Audio) on their services. HD Voice provides a more ‘true life’ voice quality that is fuller and more natural sounding with a reduction in background noise. Here are some examples of how it will affect you:

• Background noise is dampened.

• It improves the ability to hear faint talkers.

• Clearly defines double talk (or when more than one person is speaking at the same time.)

• Speakerphone clarity is improved.

 The service companies will begin rolling out the feature this year but the handset makers (like Apple/Samsung) have already deployed the ability to use HD Voice on their newer handsets like iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S lll. Surprisingly HD Voice is not a new concept. Radio Broadcasters have been using high quality audio broadcasts (such as sporting events) for years.

The telecommunications hardware provider Polycom has already implemented these features into previous and current models. They have utilized wideband and patented their Acoustic Clarity Technology for use with their conferencing phones to cancel echo, reduce noise and process advanced voice quality. These advancements in Polycom models make you feel like you are in the same room with the other participants on the call.

HD Voice can only be used with another handset that is equipped to capture and transmit the higher quality sound. VoIP and Voice over LTE are the only technologies where this will matter. Initially you will have to be on the same network to notice the difference, but that will change if wideband audio becomes a standard.

Despite its reputation for poor audio, the mobile telephone industry is beginning to make progress in voice quality. So far this service is widely available in parts of Europe, but the United States is catching up. Implementing HD Voice is like switching from AM radio to CD quality audio and is a major benefit for telecom companies and consumers. Voice quality has been lacking as of late, and it is a about time we did something to actually advance the depth of speaking over the phone.