Google – a faceless giant

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Andy

Google’s search engine is great, whenever you have a question or need information on a subject simply type in the words or a phrase into the Google Search engine and you’ll get an answer – except how to speak with someone in Google about a problem with their search engine.

My problem is with the search in Google images showing hard core pornographic material with safe search switched on, but Google don’t appear to care.  Have you ever tried to phone them?  No matter where you call, London or the US you’ll get through to an answering machine that tells you if you don’t know the direct dial number of someone in Google then access the help on their website, how’s that for customer care!

Now in order for you to be fully informed you need to know some history of my predicament, I don’t sit here all day looking for porn , but instead have thousands of schoolchildren that do that for me.  NCI provides secure internet access to schools in the UK and work with world leading providers that constantly update their software and hardware to prevent the children from bypassing proxies and accessing sites that they shouldn’t however the global players whose software indexes the images need to stand up and take responsibility for child safety at a higher level.

A while back I had a similar issue but to a much lower extent with Bing images.  This was discovered on a Friday evening and I was able to report the issue to Microsoft straight away.  About an hour after the issue was reported I had an email from Clare Barclay, General Manager for SMB and Partner Group asking for more information which she was immediately sent.  It took a weekend for the Bing team to fix but fix it they did and the problem never occurred again, now that is service for you.  For Clare to take the time on a weekend to call in people to fix a global issue and also keep me informed with every step of the way is admirable.

Now Google on the other hand…..

This problem was reported to me late last week, it’s now a week on, it’s been reported in the press by CRN http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/2274071/var-blasts-google-over-safesearch-porn-loophole?, contacts in Google have been emailed, yet no-one from Google has showed the slightest bit of interest in even what the issue is.

I’m not talking one image here, I’m talking a complete series of images and many combinations of things anyone can type in Google image search to get very undesirable content with innocent search contents. Would you like your 7 year old to view this type of content?  They can now, in the safety of your home with safe search on. The issue does not occur in Bing or Yahoo.

NCI promote internet safety through their corporate responsible website www.esafetymatters.com and we will do our best to help prevent any damage irresponsible people on the internet create.

Google, a direct message to you:  You may be a global player but you also have a social responsibility and a customer care responsibility.  If you really care then feel free to get in touch with me to find out more information on the problem, I’m not chasing my tail trying to get in touch with you anymore – and your search engines are blocked until you fix the issue.

For obvious reasons I will not publish the innocent search terms used to get the images.

Andy Trish

Director

NCI Technologies

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Beware on Facebook! – Who really pockets as your heart strings are tugged?

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Andy

I’m going to ask all my friends, and their friends to consider carefully the effects of their naturally caring and giving characters when on Facebook.  Here’s why…

Remember Facebook is not there for your benefit, it’s there to make money! The obvious money making tactics such as adverts, games etc, however annoying to some, pay for the convenience of you having a social network tool and make money for those that are associated with them.

There are other ways to make money on Facebook that are less obvious to the average user (you and me), and we are all guilty of contributing to this scheme without even knowing we are doing it. There is a mix of being a caring person, maybe inquisitive and sometimes being just purely careless. I have heard many a reply back that Facebook is confusing and how were you supposed to know clicking on the link showing ‘what the bad girl did in school’ wasn’t sensible- but this just doesn’t wash.

When ever you are asked to share a link or a photo that really has nothing to do with your personal life i.e 100,000 votes for Facebook or Microsoft or some other organization to donate to saving the life of the person in the photo, you are involuntarily contributing to someone’s financial gain, but not the benefit of the person in the photo.

How this works: Whenever a page, link or photo is shared it increases in value. It takes a few hundred thousand shares or likes to actually make it worth any money at all so the average post made by you or me will never make any money, not that we wanted it to in the first place.

Once the page/photo/link gets enough likes/shares it appears higher in peoples news feeds on Facebook so besides parting with your money for gold on games or adverts, a like/share can be classed as the secondary currency of Facebook. 100,000 likes are worth around $200 or £150

By creating a compelling reason for people to like or share a photo (a missing child, a sick child etc.) the link/photo starts racking up the likes/shares. A business or someone who really wants their own page/link/photo to appear higher up on the newsfeeds buys the rights to use that link/photo/page as their own and changes the content. So suddenly that sick child with whom you thought Facebook was going to donate millions for surgery to, suddenly becomes a photo of a pair of shoes or a holiday destination and has hundreds of thousands of likes/shares without any effort.

I’m not asking you not to care about these children. I am asking you to understand by liking/sharing these things on Facebook you are not contributing to the welfare of the poor and needy, more the greed of vultures who are using the poor and needy for their own benefits.

P.S. If you like/share this post do so because you want to help others, not me.

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Microsoft price rises Dec 2012

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Andy

On the 1st Dec 2012 you will notice an increase in price across a range of Microsoft products in our online shop and in our direct quotes to our customers.

I do not have an explanation for you on the reasons why, only to say that it is Microsoft themselves increasing the cost of their licenses and because of the massive increase NCI has no choice but to follow suit. This is in addition to the massive increase the UK suffered in July.

User Client Access Licenses (CALS) – To be increased a further 15% across a whole range of products -click link for details.

MS user client access licensesMS user client access licenses

Device Client Access Licenses (CALS) – no change

SharePoint 2013 – moving to a single version and to be increased by 37% compared to Sharepoint 2010 Standard (an estimated increase of £1450.00)

Lync Server 2013 – moving to a single version and to be increased by 400% compared to Lync 2010 Standard (an estimated increase of £2250.00)

Visio 2013 – Visio Pro replaces Visio Premium. Visio Standard increases by approximately 20%, Visio Pro increases by 5%

Project 2013 – Standard and Pro will increase by approximately 5% whilst Project Server will increase by approx 15%

Office 365 – Dependant on how it is purchased will increase by 8%

If you are thinking of purchasing any of these products contact NCI now for a quick quote. sales@ncitech.co.uk

Let us know your thoughts as a customer by commenting below.

Source: http://www.softcat.com/news/industry-news/important-changes-to-microsoft-products-announced

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3 Peaks Challenge

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Andy

Have you ever had one of those days were you get an email off somebody and think thats a good idea, why don’t we do that? I know it’s a rare occasion and spam filters do help reduce them but yesterday not one, but two popped up in my mailbox.

Climb 3 of the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales in 24 hours or less, what a great idea – except.

I’m 50 next year, my body is telling me I’m 80 but my mind is telling me I’m 20. Of course I can do it, and beat the times of all those young whippersnappers who have gone before me, I do after all eat the occasional Weetabix for breakfast and a few mars bars for lunch.

A quick email around the guys at NCI and 5 more unsuspecting souls volunteered to join me on our stroll up the mountains (at a rapid pace).  Brad Norte, Ollie Jackman, Ben Harris, Henrique Goncalves and Shaun Holloway are all signed up to train with me for our adventure, and an adventure it is going to be.

I do enjoy walking, my wife says I can not only walk the hind legs off a donkey but will have carried all the camera kit to take photo’s of the stricken creature en-route.  But am I taking a step too far?

The challenge starts at the foot of Ben Nevis

(1,344m/4,409ft) in the spectacular setting of the Scottish Highlands. It finishes at the foot of Snowdon

(1,085m/3,560ft), North Wales. In between we will visit Scafell Pike

(978m/3,206ft) in the Lake District.

We aim to raise more than £3000 for the charity Action Medical Research, a charity aimed at offering hope to the many thousands of families across the UK who are dealing with the trauma of a baby born too early, striving to support a child affected by disability, or facing the challenge of caring for a child with a rare and devastating disease for which there is no cure

Details of sponsorship will be available soon, for now we just hope you’ll support us through the pain of our training and wish us good luck in achieving our goals for this worthwhile charity.

Andy Trish

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A different point of view

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Andy

Every day for many years, staff and volunteers at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall (NMMC) have been able to delight visitors with their exhibitions, good food and amazing views both from the top but also the base of the tower.  This weekend was no different, except maybe the view from the base changed slightly.

There aren’t many places that give you a window view of the sealife under water, fish swimming past, crabs walking along the sea bed and all in real time (this isn’t a tank – it’s the actual water bed).  For as long as NCI has been supporting NMMC (and that was even before the building was built) that view has amazed visitors and changes every minute let alone day.

This weekend visitors got to see creatures of a different form.

Some bright spark decided to carefully lower some inflatables right in front of the windows.  If you want them back, staff at NMMC will be only too happy to speak with you :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hurricane Sandy victims

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Andy

A generous offer to our American friends affected by Hurricane Sandy from Storagecraft

Hurricane Sandy Help

In light of the severe damage many people are facing as a result of Hurricane Sandy, StorageCraft wants to help partners and IT Administrators as much as possible. For the next two weeks, StorageCraft is offering free downloads of the three-day version of StorageCraft® ShadowProtect® IT Edition. This will help MSPs, VARs and network administrators recover an unlimited number of servers, desktops and laptops. If you’re affected by the storm, please let StorageCraft know if there is another way that we can help you and your customers get business backup up and running.

Please visit http://www.storagecraft.com/sandy/ to download now.

For more information please contact your StorageCraft representative. We will be posting more information on the StorageCraft Recovery Zone in the future.

StorageCraft Technology Corporation | 11850 S. Election Rd. Suite 100 Draper, UT, 84020, UNITED STATES

 

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Is your software licensing correct?

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Andy

As a business owner/manager this is one article you may wish to spend time reading this.

 

Software licensing is very often not taken seriously when it comes to the day to day running of your work, but without it you may well not be in business.  Software is written by people to help you achieve your tasks, to grow and to flourish, but all to often the importance of paying for it is disregarded as less important.

In todays internet world it is relatively easy to source software, films, music and games without having to pay for it, but the ease shouldn’t outweigh the rights of the manufacturers to get paid for what they create.  Would you want someone to come in an open door and steal stuff from your office, or use your facilities for free?

Here at NCI, software licensing is very important to us, both ours and yours.  We know that sometimes you may get in a muddle with understanding how licensing works so we have trained staff to guide you and assist in keeping you legal whilst not over purchasing. If you need to know what you have purchased from us we can help there too.

Over the next few months you may receive a telephone call from Microsoft or another vendor followed by an email with instructions on how to self audit your network.  This more than likely will be a genuine call (if you are unsure contact us to confirm).  NCI’s customer base are not being targeted, all businesses throughout the UK and beyond are in line for a call eventually.

What will this mean to you?

As a business owner/manager it is your responsibility to ensure every aspect of your business is legal and software licensing is included on that.  There are many ways for an audit to be implemented and routine checks are just one of them.  Disgruntled employees is the favourite, as is the rewards sometimes offered for “shopping your boss”.

The outcome from the audits can also be quite dramatic and can mean anything from you purchasing the correct licensing to heavy fines and imprisonment.

Tip-off costs BSA victim £99,000

Microsoft are very active in auditing businesses at the moment, but so are Adobe, Symantec  and other big players.  If you are unsure as to the state of your licensing count then let us know, we can give you the software to self audit or send in staff to do it for you. Don’t change from a perpetrator to a victim in the seedy world of licensing, start off legal and stay that way.

 

 

 

 

 

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Microsoft Office Buy Forward Promotion

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Andy

For businesses and Government organisations between now and the 30th of November you can get a fantastic deal on Microsoft Office under the open license scheme.  Buy Office now and get 33% off the cost of the license and software assurance.

With both Office Standard and Office Professional qualifying for the special discount you can have a choice, or mix and match.  A  minimum of 5 Open licenses are required to be purchased to open an agreement.  If you already have an Open agreement you can add further licenses using this discount in multiples of 1.

The discount equates to an estimated cost of £17 for the software assurance on Office Standard compared to the normal price of £169 (for the software assurance alone).

Software Assurance has many benefits, not just the ability to move to Office 2013 on release, check out the SA Interactive Benefits Chart for more details.

This offer is only available in the UK.

Read all about Office 2013 and the opinion of one of NCI’s engineers on our blog page

If you would like to take advantage of this fantastic discount or speak to NCI about any of Microsoft’s new products feel free to call us on 01326 379497 or email sales@ncitech.co.uk

 

 

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To RT or not to RT, that is the question.

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Andy

With the imminent release of the Microsoft Surface tablets I thought the sensible thing to do is inform our customers what to expect before you click that pre-order button on the Microsoft store website (available 26th Oct).

The Surface Tablet range is only available through Microsoft Stores and Microsoft stores online, it is not available through Microsoft partners or their distribution and there are no plans for that to change so please take the information provided below as a guide only.  NCI will not accept any responsibility for the products suitability for your business or home needs, neither will we be able to deal with any warranty issues on these products, that will be between you and Microsoft.

There are 2 versions, Surface for Windows RT and Surface for Windows 8 Pro.

Windows RT, Microsoft have never admitted officially what the RT stands for (not to be confused with Runtime) but Windows RT was previously known as Windows on ARM.

The Surface for Windows RT tablets are available for pre-order now with launch on Oct 26th and a big launch it is going to be.

Windows RT is designed for the ARM chips which were originally conceived by Acorn Computers for use in its personal computers, now found in most smartphones on the market today.  They are cheaper and less power hungry than the Intel x86 chips used in the Surface for Windows 8 Pro tablets on which Windows RT will not work.

Anyway, thats very technical

What does the RT version mean to you?

Internet Explorer, like it or not

For those who prefer Firefox, Chrome or some other browser welcome to Internet Explorer, it’s the only browser going to be in use on RT.  Any 3rd party browsers that appear as apps will actually only be shells around Internet Explorer.

Microsoft Apps and Microsoft approved Apps only

Windows RT Apps are widgets that are embedded in the Modern UI, formerly known as Metro Interface.  Available through the Microsoft Store for download all apps have to be Microsoft approved, exactly in the same way Apps on an Ipad have to be Apple approved.

Using your old Microsoft software on RT

Windows RT will not run software that was designed for Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista, XP or earlier natively, however it does come pre-loaded with Office 2013 RT Preview (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote) with the final version available as a free download when Office 2103 RT is released from Microsoft.

A difference in Ports

The RT version has the following ports:

Stereo speakers
Full-size USB 2.0
microSDXC card slot
Headset jack
HD video out port
Cover port

the Windows 8 version has a Full size USB 3.0 port instead of the USB 2.0 port and  Mini Display Port instead of the HD Video out port.

Does size matter?

Hard drives on the RT version come in 32GB and 64GB options whilst the Windows 8 version comes in 64GB and 128GB drives

 

Business or Home?

Are you looking for a tablet to be used for business or home use?  In my opinion the RT version of the tablet was designed for the budget conscious user who wants something light and portable that looks really good but has limited uses such as internet browsing and light document writing.  You won’t be able to join it to your server domain, use group policies or use bitlocker or bitlocker to go.

Surface for Windows 8 Pro

Available 90 days after the release of Surface for Windows RT (January) this version has no software limitations so any software you can use on a Windows 8 PC or earlier you will be able to use on this (check Windows 8 software compatibility).

Although slightly thicker and slightly heavier the screen size is the same at 10.6″.  If you can do it with Windows 8 Pro you can do it on Surface for Windows 8 Pro including domain join and all the normal enterprise features.

Office is not pre-installed on this tablet but the full professional version of Office can be purchased and installed should you so wish.

In Summary

I can’t sell you any version of Surface, for that reason it would be wrong of me to advise which version (if any) you should purchase but look at all the statements above and make your own choice.

If you want to connect to your works server you’ll need to buy a machine that is capable of doing so, if all you want is to surf the web and use a few apps then the RT version may suit you.

Both versions of the Surface Tablet are very well designed and look great, they are the start of what Microsoft want the hardware manufacturers to concentrate on (really great hardware).  Tablets from all manufacturers are going to stun the world with features, styles and functionality.

Pricing is available now on the RT version from the Windows Store with pricing on the Windows 8 Pro version yet to be announced.

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NCI at the Cornwall Business Show

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Sarah

At the end of last week (3rd & 4th October) we exhibited at the Cornwall Business Show at Kingsley Village and I’d like to say before anything else, hats off to Andrew Weaver, Shelley Fletcher and everyone involved, it was a fantastic exhibition and I heard nothing but good things from exhibitors and visitors!

For NCI this was the first Business exhibition we’ve attended in a few years.  We had a great time organising the stand with new graphics, literature, giveaways and funky polo shirts.

It was fantastic to see some of our customers there as well as meeting lots of lovely new people and businesses.  We gave everyone there the chance to have a play with the new Microsoft products- Windows 8, Office 2013 and Office 365 and had a lot of interest.  Feedback was great and we’ve got lots of businesses interested in demonstrations for the new products.  We also launched our new PROsupport contract, again this proved very popular!

If you didn’t make it along to the Cornwall Business Show then come and see us at St Mellion Business Show on 25th October!

Here are a few piccies from the exhibition…

NCI stand at the Cornwall Business Show

The NCI stand ready for business

 

NCI stand at the Cornwall Business Show

Sarah chatting with David McGuire of Lungfish

 

NCI stand at the Cornwall Business Show

Keith knows nearly everyone in Cornwall!

 

NCI stand at the Cornwall Business Show

See no evil, hear no evil speak no evil- yes they got it mixed up!

NCI stand at the Cornwall Business Show

Chris talking to Ivan Burnard of Francis Clarke

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