The Apheus Blog

5Jan

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk, Websites

The End of Adobe Flash

I think everyone can agree that 2020 sucked. However, there was one bright spot on December 31, 2020. It was the end of Adobe Flash. Made popular in the early days of the internet, Flash made moving graphics a mainstay for websites. Movie studio websites and online games took advantage of the software, but it quickly became apparent that Flash had a number of security holes. Constant patching by Adobe couldn't stop the eventual adaptation of HTML 5. Goodbye, old friend.

22Dec

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Tech News, Tech Talk, Technology

Monitors are in Short Supply

I think we can all agree that 2020 has been a difficult year. Especially for those of us who work in the information technology field. In late 2019 we were facing a shortage of processors. That was quickly followed by a shortage of desktop computer systems in early 2020 that lasted nearly half the year. That was followed by a shortage of laptops and webcams. And that was just the hardware difficulties. Now that we're finishing out the year, we're faced with another hardware shortage - this time with monitors. If you can get a monitor, it's probably more expensive. There's no doubt about it, we are in the midst of a monitor shortage and it's not going to get any better anytime soon. The most recent round of problems (they say) is due to a strong earthquake in Taiwan and a power o...

You Weren’t Alone – Google Was Down Yesterday

15Dec

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk

You Weren’t Alone – Google Was Down Yesterday

If you were having trouble accessing Google services yesterday (Gmail, YouTube, Google Docs, etc.) you weren't alone. Google experienced a widespread outage on December 14, 2020. It has since been reported that the issue was related to an authentication problem. According to Google's Cloud Status page: Google Cloud Platform and Google Workspace experienced a global outage affecting all services which require Google account authentication for a duration of 50 minutes. The root cause was an issue in our automated quota management system which reduced capacity for Google's central identity management system, causing it to return errors globally. As a result, we couldn’t verify that user requests were authenticated and served errors to our users.https://status.cloud.google.com/incid...

8Dec

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk

Outages Caused Problems in 2020

The internet is a magical place. In fact, it's so magical that I don't think that any of us really understand how it works. Apparently, I'm not alone. Even the big guys have experienced outages throughout the year. Let's look back at some of the biggest outages of 2020. Microsoft Microsoft Azure had a failure on March 3, 2020, that lasted more than six hours. It impacted Microsoft's East US region and was caused by a "malfunction in building automation control caused temperatures in multiple rooms of a data center in the East US region to spike impacting Storage, Compute, Networking and other dependent services." This was followed up by another outage impacting European customers between March 24th and 26th. This "outage" was caused when Microsoft's system were overwhelmed by...

The New Apple M1 Processor Set to Change Everything

17Nov

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Tech News, Tech Talk, Technology

The New Apple M1 Processor Set to Change Everything

At Apple's event on November 10th, they unveiled the new M1 processor - a chip designed to replace the Intel processors previously used in their desktop and laptop computer products. The new M1 chip is debuting in new versions of the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini. The first of these products are set to start arriving today. You can watch the whole video event below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AwdkGKmZ0I&ab_channel=Apple I have some take-aways from the event... First of all, you could tell that Apple was excited. In fact, it almost seemed like they were surprised by the power of their first Apple Silicon processor. These processors are fast, packed with features, and a step above anything else Apple has ever offered. Indeed, it may be one of the most...

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...

Microsoft 365 Service Problems on October 7, 2020

7Oct

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Internet, Tech News

Microsoft 365 Service Problems on October 7, 2020

If you're experiencing problems this afternoon, you're not alone. According to Microsoft, users are unable to access Microsoft 365 services. These services include Microsoft Teams, Exchange Online, Outlook.com, and SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business. Microsoft says that it is currently investigating the cause of the issue. According to DownDetector, they are showing more than 21,000 reports of problems with Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365). Of the top 12 reported items on their homepage, 7 of the services shown are Microsoft products and services. These include: Office 365, Outlook.com, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Exchange, Minecraft, and OneDrive. All of the services have shown sharp increases in problems being reported. Microsoft 365 just ex...

Can’t Log In to Windows 10 with Your Password? It Could Be an Update…

5Oct

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers

Can’t Log In to Windows 10 with Your Password? It Could Be an Update…

Twice within the last week, customers have brought me their laptops with a curious problem: they couldn't log in to Windows 10 after an update. In both cases, the customer had a single local account on the machine. Neither of them was using a Microsoft account. Neither customer updated or changed their Windows 10 password. In fact, one user didn't even have a password. It was and odd problem and the fact that two completely different users came in with the same problem in such close proximity is definitely worthy of a blog post. Activating the Administrator Account On most Windows 10 computers, the administrator account is present on the machine but is more than likely deactivated. In order to reactivate the account and gain access to the system, you'll need to use some s...

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...