Ferrum Technology Services Blog

The Internet is etched into the very being of society, from the workplace to the home environment. It’s critical to ensure access to tools, resources, and contacts, among countless other functions. However, one place where the Internet has struggled to take foothold is in the classroom. Believe it or not, there are tons of classrooms all over the country that don’t have reliable access to the wonders of the Internet.

YouTube has been a monstrous hit for Internet video enthusiasts ever since its creation, but just recently, it was announced that YouTube now has a premium service called YouTube Red. Now you can watch viral videos and other great entertainment flicks in a whole new way. Still, this change has some people concerned over what it means for their current YouTube watching habits. What do you get with a YouTube Red subscription, anyway?

Eventually, one technology gets replaced by another and users of the older technology must upgrade, or else risk running an inefficient operation. This upgrade-or-be-obsolete scenario plays out most often with software, like with SHA1, the Internet’s most popular encryption protocol, slated to have its SSL certificates expire on January 1, 2017.

Thanks to so many people carrying camera-equipped smartphones, our society is inundated with photos like never before. For many of us, sharing and posting pictures has become second nature. Although, not everyone is aware of just how large the file size of pictures can potentially be, and why large photos can be problematic.

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month! With the number of data breaches growing every day, one has to wonder what hackers do with all of the information they steal. In some cases, the hackers go public with the information, as seen by the recent Ashley Madison and Sony hacks. Other times, however, hackers just want to use the information as a bargaining chip on the black market. The theft of passwords, usernames, Social Security numbers, and other sensitive information is a very lucrative market for hackers.

Modern society has become fully reliant upon technology. While technology has certainly done much to improve just about every facet of our lives, it also leaves us quite vulnerable to a scenario where we abruptly lose it. What would a worst-case scenario like this actually look like?

When it comes to your online presence, few tools are more valuable than your organization’s website. However, in order to have a website, you first need a domain name. There are countless domains available, but did you know that the meaning of these names has changed significantly over the past several years?

It turns out that the Internet isn’t as anonymous as it seems. This is a hard lesson learned by more than 37 million users of Ashley Madison, a website dedicated to cheating on one’s spouse. In July, the site was hacked by the hacker group, “The Impact Team,” and they’re currently threatening to expose the cheaters by going public with the database. In this particular case, Ashley Madison users should have known better--on two levels.

Like your fingerprint, your computer’s IP address holds the key to your identity. Okay, it may not be as unique as your fingerprint, and you may actually use multiple IP addresses every day, but still, your IP address says a lot about you. What do you need to know about your IP address?

Do you need a WiFi signal? If you’ve got a PC with a wireless card, then you’ve got what it takes to download Connectify and turn your PC into a WiFi hotspot. These days, with everyone being so dependent on WiFi, having an additional WiFi hotspot can come in handy.

Let’s face it: The Internet is filled with opinions, and several of them are undoubtedly wrong. Generally, most mature people will take these opinions with a grain of salt and move on. The other half of the population absolutely must respond. These responses are often less-than-friendly, and some of them are just trying to anger the original poster. We call these people Internet trolls.

The Internet is a vast and wonderful plain of many fruits and resources, but there are two sides to everything. It can also be a vile and disgusting place, with content that could make even the most hardened criminal flinch (or stare in astonishment). Keep your network safe by implementing a content filtering solution for your business.

It's football season! Many NFL fans are spending their Sundays glued to their TV sets cheering on their favorite team. This season, those in the tech industry who are concerned about net neutrality have also taken an interest in football--primarily due to a recent FCC ruling.

One California restaurant owner has recently taken on an interesting marketing strategy that goes against all conventional wisdom. Co-owner David Cerretini of the Italian restaurant Botto Bistro tells his strategy to USA Today, "I want to be the worst restaurant in the San Francisco area!" Strangely enough, his approach seems to be working.

What's the licensing status of your company's software look like? If you've not been intentional about this, then your business may be using several unlicensed applications. You may be thinking, "Everything works fine. No big deal." Sure, it's no big deal--until you're caught!

One of the hot topics in recent news is a concept in European courts about the "right to be forgotten." The ruling, passed in May 2014, suggests that search engines must consider requests for removal of content that is, according to ZDNet, "inadequate, irrelevant, or no longer relevant." In some circles, this ruling is seen as controversial.

We're living smack dab in the middle of the data age. In fact, 90% of the world's data was generated last year. New devices and systems create crazy amounts of data, and every byte must be processed, stored, and catalogued in such a way that it can be easily retrieved from any device, anywhere. The IT industry refers to this as "Big Data," and how your business manages its data will determine your success in this new age.

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. Essentially what it does is convert audio phone signals that are normally broadcast in analog format to digital data, which can then be sent over the Internet. I know - that was greek right?  Let me try to explain.

The issue of net neutrality is a hot topic in the United States, but not many people actually know what it is and how it affects their day-to-day routine. This is certainly an important topic that shouldn't be ignored, as it might very well affect all end users.

Artificial intelligence might not be a thing yet, but according to the results of a recent Turing test, it might very well be on its way toward becoming reality. A Russian team has put together a computer program named Eugene Goostman that may (or may not) be the first program to pass a Turing test.