Tech Talk | The Apheus Blog

How COVID-19 Has Changed the World of Technology

27Oct

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk, Technology

How COVID-19 Has Changed the World of Technology

You can listen to Tech Talk on WTCA AM 1050 and FM 106.1 in Plymouth, Indiana, every Tuesday morning at 8:30 am. Join Bob and Rusty and they discuss the latest technology news and whatever else comes to mind. It's been less than a year since COVID-19 hit the United States and it has left lasting effects on almost everyone. Those of us who work in the information technology fields know how difficult it has been to adjust, innovate, and deploy. In fact, our industry has changed so quickly it has been difficult to come up with solutions that meet the needs of our customers. The biggest change has been how most customers now realize how important technology is to their daily operations. Remote Work Many of our customers, particularly local municipalities, have never given remote ...

What do you do with all of those pictures on your phone?

20Oct

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Tech Talk, Technology

What do you do with all of those pictures on your phone?

You can listen to Tech Talk on WTCA AM 1050 and FM 106.1 in Plymouth, Indiana, every Tuesday morning at 8:30 am. Join Bob and Rusty and they discuss the latest technology news and whatever else comes to mind. Everybody has a cell phone on them, right? That also means that you're carrying a camera in your pocket. Which means that you're probably taking a lot more photos that you realize. But what do you do with all of those pictures once they're taken? Back Up Your Pictures If you have pictures of your friends and loved ones, the first thing you should do is back up those pictures! Use a cloud service like Apple iCloud or Google Photos. If you lose your phone or somehow destroy your device, you'll be sorry that you didn't back up those photos. Sharing Pictures Online You...

29Sep

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Tech News, Tech Talk, Technology

Amazon to Release Several New Products

Amazon has announced the release of several new products for home automation, gaming, and entertainment. Some of these new products are just down-right creepy. Perfect for their October release dates (and just in time for Christmas). Luna Plus Luna is a cloud-based gaming service that promises easy-to-play games that can be played on any device. Luna is available on PC, Mac, Fire TV, and web apps for iPhone and iPad. The game platform is still invite-only, but I'm sure that it will be made available in the not-so-distant future. The monthly subscription to Luna Plus is $5.99. Amazon has also released a Luna controller for $50. New Spherical Echo Speakers Arriving in October, a new fourth-generation Echo speaker is sure to be on a number of Christmas wish lists. Availabl...

The New Apple Watch Series 6 is Here… and It’s Glorious!

23Sep

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Tech News, Tech Talk, Technology

The New Apple Watch Series 6 is Here… and It’s Glorious!

I'm no Apple fanboy... But full disclosure: I do have an iPhone X, still have my iPhone 5S in a drawer, and purchased by first (and only) Mac in 1993. So it's safe to say that I have been an arms-length fan of Apple products since back in the day. My first experience with Apple was in elementary school. I made my first program on an Apple IIe and spent an entire semester my senior year of high school in front of an Apple Performa 400. This eventually led to my purchase of an Apple Performa 450. Needless to say, I loved my Mac. But that didn't make me an Apple fanboy. I built my first Windows PC in 1996 and never looked back. But then I received my new Apple Watch Series 6 on Monday... This is my first Apple Watch, so I'm new to everything about it. I even had to look up how t...

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, September 8, 2020

8Sep

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk, Websites

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, September 8, 2020

You can listen to Tech Talk on WTCA AM 1050 and FM 106.1 in Plymouth, Indiana, every Tuesday morning at 8:30 am. Join Bob and Rusty and they discuss the latest technology news and whatever else comes to mind. Adobe Flash Player is Going Away Finally. After many years of disgust on both sides of the spectrum (IT and web design), Flash is finally going away. Flash was great for doing certain things, but it really caused more problems than it was worth. Flash is destined to cease existence in December 2020, but Microsoft (for some reason) if offering extended support for some enterprise users. For some reason, movie studios really latched onto the software to build websites for their upcoming releases. I'm grateful that it's going away. Although I will soon expect a sl...

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, September 1, 2020

1Sep

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, September 1, 2020

You can listen to Tech Talk on WTCA AM 1050 and FM 106.1 in Plymouth, Indiana, every Tuesday morning at 8:30 am. Join Bob and Rusty and they discuss the latest technology news and whatever else comes to mind. Windows is Killing SSDs So as you know, you probably shouldn't defrag an SSD. Defragging has been around a long time and is a process used to improve the performance of an old spinner-type drive. Modern SSDs really don't need to be defragged. In fact, you could potentially damage an SSD by performing the defrag operation. A report came out this week that says that the latest version of Windows 10 is actually defragging your SSDs every time the system boots up. Well, that's really not how it supposed to work. In fact, Microsoft is apparently working on a fix for...

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, August 25, 2020

25Aug

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, August 25, 2020

You can listen to Tech Talk on WTCA AM 1050 and FM 106.1 in Plymouth, Indiana, every Tuesday morning at 8:30 am. Join Bob and Rusty and they discuss the latest technology news and whatever else comes to mind. Zoom Service Disruption Many Zoom users experienced major disruptions on Monday, August 24, 2020, after the service went down. Given that many people are still working from home or remotely, a disruption of this type surely made plenty of people upset. According to an email sent to customers, Velchamy Sankarlingam, President of Product and Engineering said, "We always take very seriously our responsibility to keep you connected, and we know that you are relying on us during this particularly challenging time. We deeply regret this incident and sincerely ap...

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, August 11, 2020

11Aug

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, August 11, 2020

You can listen to Tech Talk on WTCA AM 1050 and FM 106.1 in Plymouth, Indiana, every Tuesday morning at 8:30 am. Join Bob and Rusty and they discuss the latest technology news and whatever else comes to mind. Toshiba Leaves Laptop Business Toshiba had been in the laptop business for over 30 years, but they sold the majority of their business to Sharp in 2018. In an announcement on August 4th, Toshiba said that the remaining shares of their personal computer business have been transferred to Sharp and the deal brings an end to their PC business. The renamed division is called Dynabook. Questions Surround Trump's TikTok Ban Trump gave Chinese company ByteDance 45 days to sell off their TikTok app and U.S. business or face an internet blockade from the federal government. Cit...

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, August 4, 2020

4Aug

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Tech Talk show notes for Tuesday, August 4, 2020. Listen live Tuesday mornings on WTCA FM 106.1 and AM 1050 in Plymouth, Indiana. This is a new technology news feature we hope to continue on every Tech Talk show starting on August 4, 2020. It will be a quick overview of the latest technology headlines in the week leading up to the show. Trump Warns that He will Ban TikTok President Trump said last Friday night that he will ban the popular app TikTok because it poses a national security risk. The app is owned by a Chinese software company. Some claim that the app is piping personal information directly to the leaders of the Communist Party in Beijing. Microsoft Tries to Buy TikTok Microsoft is apparently reopening negotiations with the Chinese owners of TikTok...

Ransomware is Still a Threat and Even the Big Guys Can Get Hit

2Aug

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Internet, Tech Talk

Ransomware is Still a Threat and Even the Big Guys Can Get Hit

Tech Talk show notes for Tuesday, July 28, 2020. Listen live Tuesday mornings on WTCA FM 106.1 and AM 1050 in Plymouth, Indiana. Sorry for the late post, but this past week has been a busy one! Usually, I try to get my Tech Talk info on the blog information posted the same day, but sometimes work gets in the way. Go figure! But I digress. On the show this week I talked about how Garmin got hit with a ransomware attack. Garmin is well-known for its GPS devices, but they also make a broad assortment of other tech items, particularly wearables. Last weekend, the ransomware attack took down some of Garmin's services and impacted an unknown number of customers. Thankfully, Garmin says that they don't believe any of their customer data was compromised. So when a multi-million doll...