Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/76159
THE BLEEDING EDGE ment in the living area and another for com- puters in the home office. You can also protect outlying computers in kids rooms, but these are less difficult to replace as long as you have a backup schedule in place. For each "electronics hub," pur- of power spikes. Often, these have failed within days of being installed, but give no indication they are no longer providing protection. r Whole-house or whole-building power protection is expensive. If you are able to build it into the electrical system, that's fine. Ret- rofitting it into your home or small office is likely not feasible, particu- larly given the cost of maintenance and upkeep. r The best solution is the hard one. This involves a zone-defense strategy, covered by Uninterrupt- ible Power Supply units with maintenance twice a year. The third option works this way: Whether in the home or in the small office, cluster elec- tronic devices into a minimal number of hubs. For the home, thi s would mean one hub for entertain- chase a UPS unit that also filters the power. Now here is the tricky part – you must replace the UPS, or at least the battery, at least two times per year. This will cost you, with shipping, about $125 per year per hub. But the alternative is to lose one or more devices, with a replacement cost that is likely just under the deductible on your replacement insurance policy. Actually, you may find, if you watch the sales, that it is cheaper just to replace the whole unit than to replace the battery. Also, note that you must properly dispose of the battery or the unit – you can't just take it to the dump. The love-hate relationship between our devices and our power supply continue, exacerbated by a new generation of cheap-parts electronics that are not built to withstand even common power surges and spikes. That's not going to change anytime soon, putting accountants at risk for the loss of thousands of dollars in electronics – and potentially, client data as well – at any time. REALITY CHECK A compendium of ideas, products, rants and raves from the viewpoint of the author. Not that the author has no financial interests in any of the products mentioned. Feel free to disagree, or to share your ideas by sending them to Dave.Mcclure@CPAPracticeAdvisor.com. INTERNET SITE OF THE MONTH: APC Uninterruptible Power Supplies (www.APC.com). Arguably the top manu- facturer of UPS systems for small offices and homes, APC provides a range of options and information to help accoun- tants make selections for their elec- tronics hubs. Samsung's Galaxy S3 cell phone. Newly available from all of the cellular companies for about $200, this world-class Android phone is fast, has global roaming capabilities on GSM and LTE networks, and a host of advanced features. The S3 is no iPhone, but it may be the best cell phone for those who don't want to be locked into the Apple empire. Internet streaming services. I briefly sub- scribed to the Netflix streaming service for TV shows and movies, but rapidly grew bored with the lack of interesting content. Never knew there were so many vapid zombie movies. Dito the twenty or so competitors being fired up by just about everyone who thinks they can dominate this market. Two notes for these compa- nies: I ride the airplanes and the trains and I sit in the coffee shops, and almost no one is watching TV on their smart phones. And if they were, it is some- thing they recorded for free, not something they are willing to shell out big bucks for. Microsoſt's "Surface" tablets. Microsoſt has jumped into the tablet market with not one but two different August 2012 t www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 21 models under the "Surface" brand, both based on the new Windows 8 oper- ating system. But are they serious about this market, given their poor perfor- mance in previous hard- ware ventures? Most likely not. A better strategy is to use the smart, sleek units to push their ven- dors into taking Windows 8 more seriously for their own tablets. Only time will tell. Te deadline on July 9. As this issue goes to press, the world waits to see how many of the 300,000 Internet users (and maybe four times that many!) who are infected by the DNSChanger virus will see their machines stop working. If they do fall prey to the virus, it will be because they ignored months of warnings from security companies and the FBI. It's a hard road for those who ignore their basic PC security. Windows Office 2013. Everyone is focused on the new Windows 8 oper- ating system and its "Metro" interface, but the real winner this fall is more likely to be the newest version of the de-facto standard for office productivity. Te beta version is out, and while the feature set may still change it offers a tantalizing look at things that may be. A weather forecast app in the calendar? Tres cool!