LinkedIn's broken password chain

(Thank you Steve Richardson at Digital Dynamics for this)

I know this isn't the standard cool IT stuff that you should know & care about...but it's something worth noting.  Looks like according to LinkedIn's own page and twitter feed, that they were hacked this week, losing over 600,000 encrypted passwords....of which maybe a third were cracked.

So if you're on LinkedIn, change your password.  The spam is starting to erupt there already.

In the meantime, I'm running a contest.  If you sign up for a free webex 14 day trial, I'll put you in a raffle to win a $5 starbucks gift card (or a $5 gift card somewhere).  But you need to contact me for the link and I'll put your name in the raffle.

Click here to contact me. :)

Symantec in the Cloud...with Diamonds

Howdy folks...Happy Thursday afternoon!

I was quite happy to get an email from my Symantec business development manager today...because it contains an invitation for you, our clients, to learn about something new.

Starting on May 15, Symantec is holding weekly webinars on their Symantec.cloud setup through .  Here's their schedule:

Every Tuesday - Demo on Email Security.cloud, Web Security.cloud, and Endpoint Protection.cloud (SEP.cloud)
Every Thursday - Demo on Enterprise Vault.cloud (EV.cloud) and Backup Exec.cloud (BE.cloud)

You can register now here: https://symantecevents.verite.com/clouddemos  Or read some information about it here.

I've seen this product and I think it's worth your time to take a serious look at it.  Join in!  If you have any questions, please let me know!

Managing your systems for...Free!

The word Free is now an ignored word in many ways.  When people overuse it, the true meaning of it falls away into jargon and disbelief.   You hear things like this:

"Oh SURE this is 'free'...I don't believe it.  What's the catch?"

or

"Nothing is ever free my boy, you always pay in the end."

I never said there wasn't a rider to something that's free, but in this case, a single phone call is better than shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars for a real system to manage your environment.

The Meraki Systems Director is something I've been talking about with my clients for the past few weeks.  Recently, Meraki actually made it free for download, (in my opinion) to show everyone how good the backbone that their products run on, and as a thank you for those of us working hard to show others their goodness.  You can download it right here, but if you're still skeptical of a Free system to manage your desktops, laptops and iOS devices...give me a call.

I want to talk to you about it...heck, I'll even give you read access to my own Meraki network so you can see it for yourselves.  I'd like to hope that my happy clients would join in here to say what they said when they saw how good it is...because the shock & amazement is a good marker on how much something like this is needed.  (Hey, it runs on ANY network...why?  Because it only pushes out agents that report to your dashboard on Meraki's servers...THAT easy.)

If you like it, I would hope you'll contact us to help you purchase some Meraki wireless, Security Appliances, or switches.  They will compliment the System Director nicely, and you'll be really happy for it.

Absent but busy...

Howdy folks...it's been awhile...but with all of the insanity around the end of Quarter, and the release of the new iPad, life's been a bit busy to post.  But, true believers, it's not like we here at the PC Mall Dragontech team are not thinking about you.  Yes, here are some of the tech news bits that I've drummed up over the past week.  I'll be posting more over the next few days...some of which will be automated posts, but new things will always cause me to post immediately.

For those of you who travel or have folks who work for you that travel...here's something interesting I've found in the New York Times.  Apparently the FAA is now doing testing on electronic devices that can be used during flight.  They even admit that the last time they did any testing was in 2006...you know, back in the dark ages before the glorious iPad and iPhone (or any other real smart phone) existed.  Granted, I don't fly, but when I did, it was a pain to not be able to get my email, work on what I needed to work on, etc...because who can actually get any real sleep on a plane?  Anywho, look for this boom in tablets to affect every industry...even the airlines who will find a way to make $20 off of this somehow.

Speaking of Apple, they now have $97 billion in cash reserves and are trying to figure out how to spend it.  Good Gravy.  I'm praying that they give out free iPads to schools.  Heck, every school is fighting to keep up with technology...because state budgets are apparently better spent on Prisons than on educating your children...so why not reinvest in our youth again?  Not only that, but you'll nail that 'cradle to grave' strategy that every business strives for.  Heck, Apple...iPads for textbooks for children.  Let's help Americans be strong again...or at least let all the kids play Angry Birds at recess.

That's just to start...more to come later this week, folks!

The "New iPad" is here!

I'm following in the wake of the 128379283792387 blogs talking about this...because this isn't really heavy IT/Tech news.  The "New iPad" (frontrunner for the lamest product name update) had some minor changes, but the only real major change was the graphics.  And a pretty significant change at that. The new Retinal Display compacts the amount of pixels per inch down to 326 pixels...somewhere near 4x the density of most other displays out there. At 2048X1536 it's the highest resolution tablet on the market...I'm not precisely sure what that gets the users who are going to buy the New iPad, but I'm sure it looks good. :)

Signs also point to a possible shortage of the Retinal displays.  See here for more details.

Bottom Line:  If you're interested in the new iPad, it's a pretty beautiful machine...but if you have an iPad 2, don't toss it just for a new display.

The "New iPad" will be on sale March 16th...and if you need to buy more than a couple units, give us a call here at the office.  We can help get your request into our shipments from Apple, so you can be shipped out on the primary wave of shipments.

Also, we've dropped our prices on the iPad 2...so if you want one, now's the time to buy.  Remember, give the Dragontech team a call or email...WE can help you get what you want. :)

Meraki making a bid to be a bigger network player

I think many of you know how much I've been invested with Meraki. It's true that they make great products, but it has been wonderful to watch them grow and form over the past couple of years (like I have here). They went from a tiny organization, and once they embraced the channel (or a select few from the channel), they exploded in size. Now there's quite a few more reps than there used to be, and even I'm losing track.

At our Vision event back on November 3, I had a chance to talk with my favorite Meraki rep, and as always he was full of information...and a little innuendo that made me very interested in what Meraki is up to.  First off, they're known for their Wireless Enterprise units like the MR 58 and MR24 that work with their cloud-based architecture.  For you to be able to control all of your wireless units from one central location...using simple web-based tools...is fan-freakin-tastic.   Earlier this year, they got into the routing game, utilizing the same cloud-based architecture working with their MX70 units.

Now, based on comments that I was given...it seems like Meraki is now aiming at the "pieces inbetween" what they already handle.  What could that mean?  Only time will tell, boys and girls...but I tell you...these guys have more potential energy than you think...and when their IPO comes along, I'm first in line!

Want a free unit?  Take a look at our webinars section on this site, and sign up for Meraki's next webinar.  If you attend the full event, they'll send you a free MR12 unit (their basic unit) for you to keep and use.  As many of my clients will attest, once you use it, you want 4 more! :)

-Mike

(Note: Many of you have asked about my picture/signature these days.  I know it's actually much more attractive than my picture...but how about you scan it with your phone? ;) )

In Memoriam...

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple days.  Things have been quite hectic, and now with the passing of Steve Jobs, it's going to be interesting.  Steve Jobs made a lot of difference in this industry, and love or hate Apple, I believe we all should respect the innovation he brought in his lifetime.  The products he helped to create have touched all of our lives in one way or another...and we can't deny that.  Rest in Peace Mr. Jobs.

Here's a tribute from one of my favorite webcomics:



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