Internet giant Google didn't become the company it is today by creating one product and not changing. It's quite the opposite, really. They are constantly introducing new products or making changes to existing ones to make a user's experience better. One of the latest changes made by Google is a small, yet potentially important, one to the search results page.

This change, while not a major overhaul, did move some features around, making the overall results look cleaner.

With any search results that show a website, you will notice the site name in blue (clicking on it will take you to the website). Below the main result, you can see the URL (website address) in green. Beside the green URL there is now a downward facing green arrow. If you press this you should get a drop-down with up to three options:

• Cached - Clicking on this will show a snapshot of the page from a previous date - the link is from when Google last visited the page. According to Google, the cache is a backup of the page in case the current page is not available. While not generally important to many viewers, Google actually uses websites in their cache to determine if your site is relevant to various search terms.

<li><strong>Similar -</strong> Will search for sites similar to that result. This is a great way to find similar content to what is shown on that specific page.</li>

<li><strong>Share -</strong> Allows you to quickly share the site on your Google+ page. This means that you don't have to open your Google+ page to share content, just press Share and a pop-up window will open where you can add a comment and pick which friends/circles to share it with. This option is great for all Google+ users, as it makes sharing quicker and easier.</li>

While certainly not the biggest change Google has made to the search results page, this could prove to be helpful, especially if you share content, or need to find similar content on a regular basis. If you would like to learn more about how Google fits into your business, please contact us today.

An interesting tech trend of the past couple of years is the increasingly diverse services offered by large companies. Take Microsoft for instance: You have email, Office, cloud storage, Xbox, Windows Phone, etc. These services are about as different as they come, but are all linked by your Microsoft Account. But having all of your eggs in one basket could pose a security threat, especially if your account has a weak password. This is why Microsoft recently introduced a two-step verification to make it harder for hackers to gain access to your Account.

Below is an overview of the two-step verification system Microsoft has recently implemented.

What is it? If you use any of Microsoft's products, you likely have a Microsoft Account. This account is what you use to access SkyDrive, Outlook, Skype, Office or even the Xbox. The whole idea of this is that you have one account for all of Microsoft's products and services.

While this is great (you only have to remember one username and password), it can be a security issue. If a hacker gets into your account, they could have access to all of your personal information. Microsoft realizes this and has recently introduced two-step verification, a new Microsoft Account feature that beefs up your account's security.

Two-step verification is a feature that will ask you additional questions when you try to log in to your Microsoft Account. For example, you may be asked to enter a PIN or phrase that is sent to your phone. If you have used your credit card at the Microsoft Store, or on an Xbox in the past year, you have likely seen this feature in action. Now, Microsoft has extended it to your account.

This new feature is not mandatory for your Microsoft Account, so you have to sign up for it. But It is a good idea to consider enabling this function on your account, especially if you have sensitive information stored online. While this won't make your account 100% hack proof, it will drastically cut down the chance of a hacker gaining access.

How to set up two-step verification Microsoft has made it really easy to enable this security measure. You can do so by:

1. Going to https://account.live.com/proofs/Manage and logging into your Microsoft Account.
2. Selecting your phone number and Text from the drop down menu and pressing Next on the window that opens to receive a text message with a code. If you don't see this option, you should be taken directly to they account management screen
3. Entering the code you get on your mobile device and pressing Submit.
4. Clicking on Security Info under Overview.
5. Selecting Set up two-step verification followed by Next.
6. Picking from how you would like to receive verification codes (Authenticator app, Phone, or another email account). We recommend the app, which you can download onto your mobile device.
7. Following the instructions on the screen and entering the code that is sent your the option you selected above, and pressing Next.

Your account should now have two-step verification. The next time you log in, you will be asked to verify the login using the option your selected. For example, if you selected a text message, you will receive a text on your phone with a code.

If you would like to learn more about your Microsoft Account and security measures you can take to, please contact us today.

Tech is always changing and evolving; devices seen as futuristic only a few years ago are now mainstream and in everyday use. And one of the more outlandish tech devices of the past year has been Google's augmented reality project Google Glass. This device has had some impressive media coverage, with many wondering how exactly it will work. Now that the first, limited edition has been released, we can finally answer that question...kind of.

Google recently posted a video on YouTube giving a quick run-through of how to use Glass. Before we go over how users will interact with this new tech, here's a brief overview of the project.

What is Glass? Project Glass was introduced by Google in early 2012, and is essentially a wearable computer (running a version of Android) you wear on your head like glasses. Indeed, the shape of the device at first glance resembles a pair of spectacles: there are the usual two arms along with nose grips. However, instead of glass, there is a mini screen or HUD (Head Up Display) that sits just above your right eye. The HUD displays information much like a smartphone screen, and you can interact with the computer and the Internet using voice commands.

Currently, wearer's with prescription glasses can't actually use the device, but Google has confirmed that the device, if you can call it that, will eventually have lenses much like a normal pair of glasses.

So, how does it work? The video (watch it here), uploaded by Google, sheds a little light on how a user will interact with this device. For example there is a touch-sensitive area on the arm of the device which extends from your temple to just above your right ear. Tapping this will wake it from sleep mode, and display a clock on the screen which sits just above your right eye.

The clock is your home screen, and looks similar to the clock on the lock screen of almost every Android device. You can scroll to the left (by touching the pad near your ear and moving it towards your ear. This will display upcoming information like the weather, flights, or events.

Touching the pad and swiping towards your eye will display information from previous uses like messages, pictures and videos. Tapping on the screen will activate that relevant information. For example, if you are looking at a brief overview of an event, you can tap the device to bring up more information.

One of Google's previous videos showed how you can also interact with Glass by using voice commands. Saying, "Ok glass, take a picture." Will take bring up the camera and take a picture of what you're looking at. You can also ask questions to have glass search Google Now by saying something like, "Ok Glass, What is the traffic like?" To bring up a Google Map with the latest traffic highlighted.

Will it be useful for business? While this is undoubtedly one of the coolest products of the past couple of years, the actual usefulness of the device for business remains to be seen. For now, this device will likely be the domain of app developers and extreme early adopters. But this device, like the smartphone, will likely be incredibly disruptive when it's launched for the masses.

What do you think of Google Glass? Would you buy one if you had the opportunity? Let us know.

One of the most popular Internet browsers is Google's Chrome. With a clean, easy to use interface it really has the edge on other browsers. One of the lesser known features that business users may find useful is: Sign in to Chrome. But do you know about this feature and how it can make browsing the Internet even easier?

Below is an overview of the sign in to Chrome feature.

What exactly is it? Google assumes that the majority of users who download Chrome have a Google account. What Sign in to Chrome does is link to your Google account. When you link your copy of Chrome to your Google account, all bookmarks, apps, tabs and browser preferences will sync with your account.

You can then link other copies of Chrome to your account and all of this information and your saved preferences will be automatically available. Basically it's like having the exact same copy of Chrome with you, wherever you go. For example, you can have all of your bookmarks from your work computer available to you on your Android device, or at home.

Another benefit of signing into Chrome is that it makes it easier to use all of Google's apps. For the most part, you will only have to sign in once and all of your Google's apps are there, ready to be used.

This is a great feature if you have multiple devices and want to have access to the same information, bookmarks and preferences. The downside is that it can be a security issue, especially if you sign in to Chrome on a public computer. If you forget to logout, other users will have access to your browser and potentially, to your Google accounts.

How to sign in to Chrome

1. Open Chrome and click on the three vertical lines in the top-right of the browser.
2. Select Sign in to Chrome.
3. Enter your Google account information (username and password).
4. Confirm what you want to sync by ticking or unticking the relevant boxes.
5. Click Ok.

For businesses we recommend that you sync only your bookmarks, apps and open tabs. For security reasons, it would be a good idea to not sync passwords or auto-fill.

If you would like to learn more about Chrome or any of Google's other apps, please contact us to schedule a chat.

Meaningful Use Stage 2 begins on January 1, 2014, and while many health-care providers have implemented electronic medical records (EMRs) in preparation, stumbling blocks exist. Here are three of them.

Getting patients to use portals. More than 50% of patients seen during the reporting period must receive timely online access to their health information, which means within four business days. Additionally, more than 5% of patients seen in that period must actually, "view, download, or transmit to a third party their health information."

Exchanging data. Health-care providers must provide a summary-of-care record for more than 50% of transitions of care and referrals, and for 10% of those transitions, the summary must be transmitted electronically. Moreover, at least one exchange must occur with a recipient who uses a different EMR. And, the data must be able to be generated in a specified format.

Creating medication and lab orders. More than 60% of medication orders and 30% of lab test orders must be done electronically, and test orders will involve new workflows in many practices.

While these three potential stumbling blocks may seem large, there is some good news: Stage 2 shouldn’t be burdensome for health-care providers who attested in Stage 1, as you’re essentially just demonstrating a higher level of use. If you are preparing for Stage 2, and are worried about potential challenges, contact us today to see how we can help make the tranistion smooth and worry free.

The Internet has forever changed our lives, and now we expect things to be instant, including our communication. Email has played a large part in developing these expectations, and has for the most part proven to be an immensely useful tool. Sometimes, a little too useful. It's not uncommon to hear business owners gripe about email overload. If this sounds like you, don't worry as there are things you can do.

Here are five tips on how you can better manage your inbox.

1. Address last Most people start an email by typing in the address of the recipient(s). While there is nothing wrong with this practice, it can lead to emails being sent before they are finished, which could mean more emails in your inbox asking for clarifications or you having to send a correction email.

To stop this, try writing the body of the email first and when you have finished, put the addresses of the recipients.

2. Merge social with email Sometimes it can be hard to know who you are writing or replying to in your email. Using an app like Rapportive, which brings social information into Gmail can help. This app puts a bar to the right-side of an email with information about the sender, including their social profiles, recent tweets and even links to their LinkedIn profile. You can look up your recipients and connect with them directly from the email.

3. Use links, not attachments With the increasing number of cloud storage and productivity apps like Microsoft SkyDrive and Google Drive which allow you to share files by sending people links, there's no need to attach files to an email. This is incredibly useful if you find yourself sending document versions back and forth on a regular basis and struggle to keep everything up to date.

These services use one version of the document that users you share it with have access to. Everyone sees the same document, which will cut down on the number of emails and confusion when it comes to version control of important documents.

4. Don't use email for everything Email is so quick and easy that we tend to rely on it for everything. However, there are certain situations when email is not the best form of communication. For example, if you have a tough problem, need to reprimand an employee, etc. it would not be a good idea to do so in email, it's just too impersonal.

As a rule of thumb: If there's any chance of human emotions entering into a response or being affected by an email, it may be a better idea to communicate face-to-face.

5. Cook all your bacn at once Bacn (pronounced Bacon) is solicited email; email you want, just not right now. Social media updates, newsletters, website update notifications, etc. are all forms of bacn. Checking these takes time and can be a distraction if you have work to get done. It would be a good idea to schedule a set amount of time where you focus on reading, deleting or archiving these emails.

Alternatively, you can unsubscribe from these alerts or set up a new email account that is just for this type of emails.

There are thousands of things you can do to make your email easier to manage. What do you do? Let us know. If you are looking for even more ways to manage your inbox, contact us today.

The modern smartphone user has well over 700,000 apps to choose from. One of the most important types of apps is email. If you are an iPhone user, you may be using Apple's Mail, which comes installed on the phone. While it is a solid app, there is one function that causes some confusion - email attachments.

Below is a brief overview of how iPhone's Mail app's attachments work.

How to open an attachment If you get an email with an attachment, open the message and scroll down to the bottom of the message. You will see the name of the attachment along with the file type and size. If you tap on it, your phone should open it in a new window. You can then zoom in/out and scroll around.

Some attachments can be downloaded by tapping and holding on the attachment. After about a second, a pop-up menu will show, and you should be able to select to save it. Instead of saving the attachment, you can also choose to open it using other apps.

Why won't some attachments open? There may be a time where you get an email with an attachment that can't be opened. You will still be able to see it in the email, but you won't be able to tap on it. This is because the Mail app doesn't support all file and document types.

Don't worry if you can't open an attachment as chances are there's an app in the App store that will open it. The easiest thing to do is look at the file type of the attachment, which is usually indicated by a three letter code at the end of the file name. For example, a Word document will be FILENAME.doc or FILENAME.docx. A quick Internet search for something like, 'iPhone app that can open .ddd' will usually return results with an app that can open your file.

Once you download the app, try pressing and holding on the attachment in Mail and selecting Open in... from the pop-up menu. Look for the app you downloaded and tap on it.

How to add an attachment to emails You can add an attachment to an email by pressing and holding on the body section of a new email. A pop-up menu should come up, if you scroll left you should see the Select/Paste option. Tapping on this will allow you to select either a photo, video or message which you can attach to the email. Unfortunately, there isn't much else you can attach, so if you need to attach a document or other file type, you would be better off doing so on your computer.

If you would like to learn more about the iPhone and how it can help you, please contact us today.

One of the integral components of any online service's security is the password. It's what identifies you, and allows you access to your account. Because of the dearth of other ways to identify you, the password is often seen as a weak link and the main thing many hackers go after. To prevent security breaches, it's a good idea to change your password on a regular basis.

Here's how you can change the password for your Google account.

How passwords work with Google As you probably know, Google offers a wide variety of services and chances are high that if you have a Google account, you use more than one service. You'll also know that you only have to log in once to get access to almost any Google app.

This is because Google uses Single Sign-on (SSO), which is an access property that allows a user to enter a password once and gain access to all related services. This is meant to make the 'Google experience' seamless and more efficient.

While this is useful, it can also be a bit of a security issue. If someone was to get a hold of your Google password, they will have access to everything on your Google account. It would, therefore, be a good idea to change your password on a regular basis - at least every three months. Luckily, Google has made it easy to change it, and offers two main ways to do so:

Change your password from Gmail You can change your password from Gmail by:

1. Logging into Gmail and pressing the cog on the right-hand side of the window (Below the black bar)
2. Selecting Settings from the drop-down menu.
3. Clicking on Accounts which will be on the horizontal menu bar in the window that opens.
4. Clicking Google Account Settings followed by Security from the menu bar that opens.
5. Selecting Change password and entering your current along with your new password.
6. Pressing Change password.

Change your password from the Accounts tab You can also easily change your password by:

1. Going to accounts.google.com.
2. Logging into your Google account.
3. Clicking on Security from the left-hand menu bar.
4. Selecting Change your password and entering your current along with your new password.
5. Pressing Change password.

When changing your password, it is best to pick a new password, don't simply add on a character, letter or number to an existing password. If you would like to learn more about the security of your online accounts and how we can help, contact us today.

Using a tablet in the office or for business can help you be more productive or at the very least can make your job easier. One of the most popular tablets is the iPad, with many owners swearing that it has made them more productive. One common gripe however is that the keyboard isn't the best for efficiency. There are some features that help though.

Here's a tip on how you can improve typing on your iPad through the use of keyboard shortcuts.

What are they? Keyboard shortcuts are a built-in feature of iOS that allow you to type in a few letters and have your iPad input full sentences or words. This is similar to a Web browser's autocomplete feature which will fill in forms when you enter a few letters or even a word.

How it works Keyboard shortcuts require manual setup, you will have to set a phrase, sentence, word, etc. as well as the letters that will input the phrase. For example you can set the letters 'beml' to be a shortcut for your business email; when you type 'beml', your iPad will input your email address.

These shortcuts could be quite useful, especially if you find yourself continually entering the same word or sentence. This will make you more productive and, as long as you have the correct information, will ensure that there are no typos in important words or phrases. How to set it keyboard shortcuts Taking the business email example from above, here's how you can set keyboard shortcuts. Note: These instructions relate to iOS 6.1 (the latest version of the operating system.)

1. Open the Settings app (gray box with three cogs).
2. Select General followed by Keyboard.
3. Scroll down and select Add New Shortcut.
4. Enter the full word/phrase/sentence in the Phrase section. In this case you would enter your full email address.
5. Enter the shortcut letters that will be related to the Phrase. In this case you would enter beml.
6. Tap Save in the top-right of the window.

When entering shortcuts, it is a good idea to not use common letters or combinations that make up words. For example if you set a shortcut as 'mai', everytime you type 'mai', the phrase will be entered. To come up with a good shortcut, try using the first letter of the first word, a middle letter and the last. Or, you could enter three consonants or vowels in a row e.g., 'eee'.

How to edit keyboard shortcuts You may notice that when you navigate to the Keyboard section in the Settings app, there is a number of existing shortcuts. You can edit these by:

1. Opening the Settings app (gray box with three cogs).
2. Selecting General followed by Keyboard.
3. Tapping Edit and selecting the shortcut to edit from the Shortcuts box.
4. Editing the phrase and shortcut associated to it in the window that opens.
5. Pressing Save in the top-right of the window.

The next time you need to enter a phrase that you have setup a shortcut for, try entering the shortcut. This should make typing on the iPad a bit more efficient and save you time.

If you are looking to learn more about the iPad, or how using one can help improve your productivity at work, please contact us today.

As technology continues to invade every aspect of our lives, the number of devices we own keeps increasing. Having both a tablet and a smartphone is not uncommon for many business owners today. If you have an Android tablet, you likely can't connect to a mobile network, but did you know that there is a way you can get your tablet online when there is no Wi-Fi available? It's called tethering, and it can be extremely useful.

Here is an overview of tethering. It focuses on Android tablets, but this process be applied to almost any Android device.

What exactly is tethering? You've probably seen this term mentioned in marketing collateral or contracts from your mobile provider, or heard users talk about it. In the most basic sense, tethering is sharing one device's Internet or data connection with another. The most common type of tethering you will see is someone using their smartphone's data connection to surf the Internet on their computer or tablet.

When it comes to tethering on Android devices, there are three main options:

• Portable Wi-Fi hotspot - Turns your device into a Wi-Fi router, allowing it to share its data connection with up to five other devices.
• Bluetooth - Shares the device's data connection with one device over Bluetooth.
• USB - Shares the device's data connection with one device, usually a computer.

A word of warning: As you share connections, the speed of the data will be diminished. Some devices are also data hungry, and if you have a set amount of data each month, you will likely use it up. If you go over the amount, you may be in for a bit of a shock when you see your next bill.

Can I tether on my tablet? Technically all Android tablets and devices can share their connection as long as they can connect to mobile data. The ability to tether actually hinges on the provider of the data connection - some allow it, others don't while some will apply extra charges. Before you try to tether any device, you should check with your device's data/mobile provider to ensure tethering is allowed. As a rule of thumb: If you are already paying for a data connection with a set amount of bandwidth (e.g., 2GB a month), tethering is likely ok.

Because many Android tablets don't have a mobile data connection, most users will likely share their smartphone's connection with their tablet. If you have a smartphone with a data plan, tethering will depend on your phone as the tablet just sees an Internet connection.

How do I share my data connection? If you have a smartphone with a data connection and would like to share it with your tablet, you have a couple of options:

For iPhone/iPad (with a data connection) users

1. Open Settings on your phone.
2. Tap on General followed by Network.
3. Select Personal Hotspot followed by Wi-Fi Password.
4. Set the Wi-Fi password and select Done.
5. Slide the button beside Personal Hotspot from Off to On.
6. On your Android device, open the Wi-Fi settings and look for the network with the iPhone's name. Tap on it and enter the password you set above. It should connect within a few seconds.

For Android users

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Press More under Wireless & Networks (Android 4.2)
3. Tap on Tethering & portable hotspot.
4. Select Set up Wi-Fi hotspot and enter a network name under Network SSID.
5. Enter a password under the Password section and press Save.
6. Select Portable Wi-Fi hotspot and the device will create a wireless network.
7. On your tablet, open the Wi-Fi settings and look for the name you have set in the Network SSID field above. By default it's Android AP.

It would be a good idea to use a password when setting up tethering to ensure that no one will be able to connect to your network without your permission.

If you are looking for more ways to get your Android tablet online or wondering how a tablet can help you, contact us today.