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Although this is generally a fix release, it does provide some important improvements.

• Variable, Continuous Size of Snap Views; You have more ways to see multiple apps on the screen at once. When displaying multiple apps at once, you can easily resize the width of the app window to suit your needs. Depending on screen size and resolution, you can even share the screen with three, or four apps on each monitor.
• Boot to Desktop; You can now configure Windows 8.1 to boot directly to the desktop after logon.
• Desktop and Start Screen; Improvements have been made to better support users who prefer a mouse and keyboard experience to access applications.
• Improved Internet Explorer; Internet Explorer 11 improvements include faster page load times, side-by-side browsing of your sites, enhanced pinned site notifications, and app settings like favorites, tabs and settings sync across all your Windows 8.1 PCs. Internet Explorer 11 now includes capability that enables an antimalware solution to scan the input for a binary extension before it’s passed onto the extension for execution
• Broadband Tethering; Turn your Windows 8.1 mobile broadband-enabled PC or tablet into a personal Wi-Fi hotspot, allowing other devices to connect and access the internet.
• Wi-Fi Direct Printing; Connect to Wi-Fi Direct printers without adding additional drivers or software on your Windows 8.1 device, forming a peer-to-peer network between your device and the printer.

For the past year, we have been pushing Office 365.  To some, it may have seemed that we were mandating the changeover.  There is a method to our madness.  It isn’t just that you will be using the latest available version of the software.  It isn’t that it provides a more secure environment.  It isn’t that there are more than a billion other people using Microsoft Office. There is another reason.

Office 365 is the best suite of office and communication applications moving towards Unified Communications.  Unified communications includes all the ways we communicate.  It includes voice, video, text, instant messaging, social chat, collaboration and common tools for sharing information.  This is a term we don’t usually see in office applications because we are at the forefront of a rising technology. It has been pure theory for so many years with many vendors offering a solution, but none of them has turned out to be a real contender.  I have looked at unified communications and collaboration intensely over the last 5 years. I have had some hopes over the years.  Google Wave introduced in 2009 and offered some really imaginative multi-lingual communication tools but was killed off in 2010, and with FirstClass from OpenText which has never able to stay current. There is Basecamp which handles only some aspects of unified communication. Even Microsoft SharePoint introduced in 2007 could never find a real footing. It continues to miss the boat.

That said, Microsoft has created standards we live with every day and is making strides by expanding the universality of these standards.  We all know what a DOC (Word) or an XLS (Excel) file is and more and more of us know what a MDB and ACCDB (Access) file is or a PUB (Publisher) file or even a VSD (Visio).  We are also learning what PST and OST files are.  These are all standards created by Microsoft.  Sure there are other standards, PDF (Adobe Portable Document Format) and ZIP (compressed file), MP3 (music), MP4 (video) are examples. But, in the end, we communicate with a certain set of tools each and every day.  These tools include voice, text, email, time-sharing (calendar), file-sharing and social media.  The easier we can share, search, find, schedule and assimilate, the easier we can communicate.  The easier we communicate and collaborate, the better we understand one another and understanding is the cornerstone of cooperation, progress and peace.

Microsoft Office 365 provides a way for all of us to improve the way we communicate and collaborate. It isn’t perfect yet, but it is far superior to Google Apps which remain disjointed and less integrated with your desktop. It is light-years away from FirstClass, and far and away more robust than any other offering on the market.

With the right Microsoft Partner, companies can harness the latest versions of Outlook, SharePoint, Word, PowerPoint, Access, Excel, Publisher, OneNote and Lync within their entire organization and spread the ability to communicate and collaborate with customers and vendors.  For more information email me at rmj@trif.com or click on our Office365 page.

As I get older it seems time moves faster.  Not figuratively, literally.  Faster and faster.  It is harder to accomplish grand tasks and it is more difficult to undertake new projects.  But has time really changed?  No, of course it hasn’t.  If life were a meal, the problem becomes the size of the menu. The menu of options available becomes so over whelming that it is difficult to concentrate on the entrée. We need also to taste the appetizer and the salad and of course the dessert, and lest we forget about the wine, cappuccino or biscotti. Life becomes so rich, so diversified that it is becomes a near impossibility to enjoy all of its fruits. At the same time, it seems working to afford these riches is taking up more and more of our time. Do we spend too much of our time working?

What about…  Family? Art? Volunteering? Music? Nature? Reading? Health and wellness? Community? Playing? Hobbies? Learning?  Oh my, the list of possibilities is confounding.  It is no wonder so many of us have difficulty juggling all the balls we have in the air.  It is not surprising we have anxiety for fear we are not doing all that we should be doing.  Is it surprising to hear that 1 in 5 Americans take medications for anxiety, depression and other psychiatric disorders?  Is it surprising that the figure is 1 in 4 for women?  These numbers have risen 20% in the last 10 years. The use of anti-anxiety medications have risen 30% in young adults in a ten-year period. (Statistics source: 2010 research study by Medco Health Solutions, Inc.)

Is there an answer?  How do we create balance in our lives so that we feel fulfilled without becoming over-stuffed or worse, under-fulfilled.  When life’s choices stare us in the face, why do we not opt for peace, calm, nature, simplicity and tranquility?  What drives us to take the path of harder and longer work days?  When does the guilt begin and end?    Why do some people (like I once did) commute 3 or more hours every day essentially discarding 10 percent of their lives?  It appears to be entrapment of some kind. We all need to strive for a better life. We need to work towards making different decisions based on the entirety of our lives.

I don’t pretend to know all the answers, but as with all things, an increased awareness and a real consciousness of our decisions can make the difference.  If we consciously confront each fork in the road understanding the impact each path has on the balance of our lives, we just might be able to improve our lot in life.

The concept of ALL WORK AND NO PLAY harkens back to the mid 1600’s.  When will we see the light?  Our elected officials, our business community, our employers, our health institutions should begin to grasp the impact of all work and no play.  It is time for the balance of life to change.  As American’s, it is our unalienable right!

For your reading pleasure, here is the Declaration of Independence:

hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,  — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.  — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.  — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

I had a meeting with a local photographer (Everett Heller) and as we were talking about photography (a hobby of mine, a passion of his) he mentioned that he used Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for managing and developing his digital images.  So I downloaded a free 30 day trial and began to play with it on my Mac.  I love working on my Mac because it has a wonderful 24″ display but I don’t have any software for it that I regularly use.  This may change things.

As you can see on the left, there are hundreds of things you can do with Lightroom including create a catalog of photos, organize them into clean folders, importing in batch and adjusting as you import, create custom filters or use the defaults that come standard.  If you click on the picture, you will see it full size.  It is a very powerful resource for professionals and amateurs alike. It will even upload to your social media sites like Facebook and Flickr.

Download a copy and watch some of the videos available on Adobe which will show you everything you need to know to get started in less than a half an hour.  If you are like me, you need instant gratification.  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom will deliver that and more for a mere $149.  A very good investment.

Is travel insurance worth it? You really can’t tell until you try to file a claim or you read the 14 to 30 page insurance policy (or have your attorney read it on your behalf). If you do file a claim, make sure it is not due to an illness resulting from a pre-existing illness of any kind. In most cases, these will not be covered. Unfortunately this will be in the very fine print. Is it reasonable that a travel insurance policy should be as long and as complicated as they are? Of course not.

Also know the difference between an insurance policy and a protection plan. An insurance policy is regulated. A protection plan is not. Buyer beware; do not purchase a protection plan.

Massachusetts Insurance Commission does offer some assistance. As they say, “The Division of Insurance exists to serve you. The Division can be a source of unbiased information and assistance to you…”
“The Consumer Service Section can be contacted at 617-521-7794, Monday – Friday 8:45 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. or visit the Section on the Division’s web site at www.state.ma.us/doi. You may also contact or send in a consumer complaint by writing to the Consumer Service Section at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Insurance, One South Station, Boston, MA 02110. For your convenience, a consumer complaint form may be printed from the Division’s web site. ”

None of this replaces the need for you to read and understanding the policy.

I have been experiencing problems accessing web sites from home. My ISP is Comcast.  I have discovered the problem.  Comcast has recently implemented DNSSEC – Domain Name System Security Extensions.  DNSSEC validates web site domain name settings with a fine tooth comb. In many cases this fine tooth comb is filtering out sites which you would think should be a-ok.  Sites like portal.microsoftonline.com (the Microsoft Exchange Online web site or www.mass.gov (the State of Massachusetts web site).

It all has to do with DNS Servers. A DNS Server is like a phone book that gives you the number associated to the name. If you can’t associate the name (URL) to the IP address (Phone Number), it can’t make the call.

In researching the problem, I discovered that DNS could not resolve these URL’s.  That means that when the computer looks up the URL in the DNS Servers to get the associated IP address to call the web page, it can’t find the IP. It can’t find the IP because access has been denied by Comcast’s DNS servers.  It has been denied because Comcast now uses DNSSEC to validate URL’s – theoretically for improved security.

The problem is that many web sites do not yet comply with DNSSEC validation rules.

If you are experiencing issues accessing certain web pages, check out the site using this tool: http://dnssec-debugger.verisignlabs.com/ and enter the web site in question. If you see all green lights, the site is ok, if you see red lights, the site may not be in compliance with DNSSEC validation rules.

Feel free to call Comcast, but get yourself to a supervisor quickly, the underlings, as nice as they are,  don’t have a clue.

If you are interested in the view out one of our windows, have a look at http://livecam.trif.com.  It is a real-time video feed from our conference room window into our parking area looking East and Route 12.

We have a Dunkin Donuts in our plaza, so it can get pretty busy.  This cam is especially helpful in the winter to see the conditions during a storm.  It also tells us something about our offices.  It tells if we have power, if we have Internet connectivity and if the office is in tact. 

Lastly, it lets us see the healthy people using the handicap parking spot.

Ok, I unsubscribe from emails almost every day. I might accept mass-marketing emails for a while, but then cyclically I go on the rampage and kill everything I can.  The latest is this new fad Groupon which provides local deals not unlike those coupon booklets you receive from your kid’s school as a way of earning extra money for your school.  Groupon negotiates discounts and passes the savings along to their customers.  Well, the next time I need an herbal spa treatment, I just may have a peek, but for now, I want the emails to stop.  So I go to the bottom of the email and find the word unsubscribe and click it.  Usually it goesthrough a process of selecting what you are unsubscribing from and why you are unsubscribing, but Groupon does one additional thing.  They apologize and tell you that Derrick is at fault and ask you to click the button to punish Derrick.  So of course I did.  And you can see Derrick get scolded by a superior and then assaulted.  It catches you off guard and makes you think twice about unsubscribing. 

How do they do this?  They make it personal.  They make you feel as if someone was harmed as a result of your actions.  And of course, they give you the opportunity to resubscribe. This is a great way to provide an easy, non-offensive way for your audience to stay connected with you.  Maybe you can’t reproduce this little video clip, but you might think out of the box and consider another ploy.

Many use Constant Contact which provides an easy way to unsubscribe, they call it safe unsubscribe.  It is instant and respects the wishes of the recipient, but it doesn’t provide an opportunity to think twice.  That’s all you want to try and accomplish. Provide an opportunity to reconsider without annoying.