SMART Blog

New consumer technology, he LG Rolling Bot, looks like it will be a nifty little device to leave either in your office or at home. Basically, it’s a rolling security camera that can be controlled remotely through a smartphone.

The world might not see widespread use of artificial intelligence for quite some time, but that doesn’t mean developers aren’t taking baby steps in that direction. Take for example Google and its automated vehicles. If Google successfully makes a self-driving car that’s aware of its surroundings, we might see them on the roads as early as 2020.

Thousands of gadgets are produced each year designed to work with existing technology and to deliver marginal-to-significant increases in an individual’s productivity. Each year, many of these gadgets fail in some way or fall out of public consciousness, becoming nothing but an answer to a trivia question a decade down the road.

Entertainment has grown so synonymous with smartphones and technology that it’s almost impossible to think about these innovations without considering their entertainment value. Virtual reality augmentation, while slightly different, is an emerging technology that brings elements of virtual space to the lives of everyday users. So, how does virtual reality work, and can it be used for more than just entertainment purposes?

It’s one thing to stretch the budget by implementing money-saving IT solutions, it’s quite another to limit your staff by not providing the technology they need to effectively do their job. In situations like this, a business owner would be better off spending extra for quality equipment.

When was the last time you provided your business with improved technology that offers a great return on investment? If your business is using software and hardware that hasn’t been updated in several years, the same technology that’s necessary for your operations could be holding you back from achieving optimal efficiency.

If you’re in the market for a new computer, then you’re going to have to make a decision: Go with a traditional hard drive (HDD), or a solid state drive (SSD). While a computer equipped with an HDD will cost you less money, an SSD promises to faster speeds and a longer lifespan. This begs the question, is SSD worth the extra money?

It’s the nature of technology to grow more complex over time, and as it does, the types of threats grow alongside it. Security is now more important than ever before, and if your business is not prepared to handle the threats that lurk in the shadows, your organization could be running with an unnecessary crutch.

The IT landscape has changed so dramatically over the past decade that businesses need to stop and consider the latest solutions before cycling out their old IT equipment. In the past, when it came time to replace office technology, one would simply run down a standard list of IT equipment. Now, much of this standard equipment is no longer necessary.

It can make a big difference for your business to partner with the right technology vendor. How can you know if you’re working with a vendor that’s looking out for your company’s best interests, or one that wants to rip you off? You can know for sure if you’re working with the right vendor if you have your trusted IT provider choose them for you.

Collaboration. It’s a buzzword that managers talk about all the time, yet few organizations will claim that they’ve mastered it. It’s often a company’s misuse of technology that attributes to their collaboration shortcomings--which is ironic because utilizing the right technology is the surest way to improve collaboration.

Technology is reliable. With correct coding and high-level instructions, technology will do exactly what it’s supposed to do. Yet, technology has a reputation for failing and being hard to work with. Might we be so bold as to suggest that the majority of technology problems are actually caused by humans? Here are three ways that human behavior breaks perfectly good technology.

It's the nature of technology to take a while for the market to fully appreciate it. After it's released, there's an implementation phase where the benefits are weighed against the risks. This phase is usually a slow one, but if the technology is good, then its acceptance will be widespread and businesses will have to give excuses on why they're not using it.

There are some good things about the past. Events that happened then have led you to where you are now - you're an owner of a thriving business, and you can remember being a startup like it was yesterday. But, does your technology also remember those halcyon days? If so, you might be due for a much-needed upgrade.

We talk a lot about viruses or holes in supposedly sound security structures, but today it seems as if that's all there is to talk about. It's all about the latest vulnerability, or a hacking attack that left millions of people with compromised passwords. People always concentrate on the negative aspects of things without looking at the positives.

Who's in charge of making the decisions in your business concerning technology? Ideally, you want an internal IT manager or a CIO with IT experience calling the tech shots. However, many businesses don't have this luxury. According to a CompTIA survey from last November, 48 percent of businesses have managers making decisions about technology implementation that don't have IT experience.

Remember when you upgraded to a flat screen TV or monitor just a few years ago? You may have marveled at the increased picture quality and celebrated getting rid of your old and bulky equipment, but do you know what happened to the old CRT monitor after you threw it out? Unfortunately, the answer doesn't bode well for the environment.

The world is slowly being overrun by machinery, and we are finding new uses for it every day. While not an entirely new subject, desktop virtualization is something that has become increasingly popular over the past few years, and it's easy to see why. Instead of keeping your desktop in a physical form, it's becoming more reliable to keep it digitally tucked away, safe and sound. This frees it from the potential physical problems associated with computers, such as a sudden crash or just dying out with age.

Not too many years ago comedian Jeff Foxworthy became a star with his trademark "You Might Be a Redneck If..." jokes. Rednecks are an interesting breed that do things backwards because they stubbornly believe that it's the best way, and like all of us, rednecks use technology. Are you a technology redneck? Check out our redneck technology list to find out.

Some people refuse to upgrade their technology because they're ardently committed to the principle of "if it's not broke, don't fix it." We admire a person's resolve to stand up for their convictions, but there are cases when old technology gets in the way of profits. Here are four examples of old technologies that may be holding your business back.