Millions of merchants accept credit card payments through Apple Pay. Even small businesses weary of data security standards are jumping on board. If you don’t presently accept these mobile payments, it’s time you learn about how simple and safe they really are.

How does it work?

Credit card transactions are more complicated than most people realize. There are a few middlemen between the merchant you purchase from and the bank that issues your credit card. Apple Pay simplifies the payment process by reducing the number of middlemen who have access to credit card numbers.

When you add a new card to the digital wallet on your mobile device, Apple works with the card issuer to create something called a Device Account Number (DAN). Once the DAN has been stored on your phone, with your bank, and on Apple’s servers -- Apple erases your credit card number from its database.

To make a payment at a merchant that accepts Apple Pay, you place your phone near the payment terminal and your iPhone or iWatch will transmit your DAN over an encrypted connection (after scanning your fingerprint).

The merchant sends the purchase amount, your DAN, and a unique transaction code to the bank to be approved and checked against the records saved on your phone.

The time it takes to request authorization and approve the transaction is on par with swiping the magnetic strip in your wallet, but keeps your credit card number out of the merchant’s recorded history. And even if hackers were to decrypt and steal your DAN, it is totally useless without your fingerprint.

What do businesses need to accept Apple Pay?

All that is required to process a transaction is a payment terminal with Near Field Technology (NFC), which allows your phone to transmit encrypted information wirelessly. Apple Pay transaction fees are quite a bit lower than those of traditional card readers and NFC terminals range from $300-$500. Depending on what you sell, this method could pay for itself in a matter of months.

Aside from installation and integration with your existing sales and accounting software, Apple Pay requires little to no IT support. As an SMB ourselves, we view it as a way to improve the customer experience -- and that’s what we care about most. If you need help with more technical support issues related to Apple products -- just give us a call today.

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Have you ever calculated how much productivity was lost on time spent deciding which files to delete and which to keep because your computer’s hard disk ran out of space? With Dropbox’s new plan, you'll never have to worry about running out of hard drive space again. Read on to see why.

Stop worrying about storage space

Gone are the days when you have to regularly remove, relocate, or reorganize files stored on your hard disk because there’s not enough space. Dropbox has recently introduced a new plan, Dropbox Professional, aimed at self-employed professionals and entrepreneurs. And it comes with a new feature called Smart Sync.

Smart Sync allows you to choose any file or folder stored in your computer's Dropbox folder and send it to the cloud, thus freeing your hard disk space.

What's great about this feature is that all the “online-only” files and folders will still be visible on your desktop, allowing for convenient access. You can view, rename, remove, or preview those files and folders easily from your computer, just like you can for regular files.

It also comes with an array of extra features, such as advanced sharing controls that include remote device wipe, password-protected and expiring shared links, detailed viewer history, and priority support with the Dropbox support team.

Let’s welcome Showcase

Another exciting feature of Dropbox Professional is Showcase. Instead of organizing your files in a traditional folder, now you can arrange them on a “branded page” with customized layouts, captions, visual preview and show them to the world. This PowerPoint-like page is a great tool for designers, marketeers, or any entrepreneurs who have to present their work to potential clients.

You can also see who viewed your file, as well as how they might have interacted with it (e.g., by downloading and/or commenting whatever work your share).

Any type of file can be shown on Showcase except video files which, for now, can be presented only as a static image. Dropbox will roll out a support for this soon. And the good news is: Showcase doesn’t take up your Dropbox space.

Pricing

$19.99 a month or $199 a year is the price you have to pay for Dropbox Professional and its extras. The plan comes with 1TB storage and allows you to recover old versions or restore deleted files from the last 120 days.

Let’s see whether the new Dropbox plan can compete with other cloud-storing products in the market, including Box.com, which costs only $15 a month (but has fewer features).

Using productivity apps is one way to help you become more efficient. But there are also many other ways in which technology can help improve your efficiency. Why not contact our IT team today? Our staff knows how to turn technology to your advantage, and they’ll be more than happy to talk to you!

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Can you guess how many people out of 100 use Microsoft Edge? According to StatCounter, the answer is less than three. By contrast, Chrome and Safari control 55.68% and 14.22% of the market share, respectively. So, in a desperate attempt to keep Edge on users’ radars, Microsoft is releasing the browser on mobile platforms. Read on for more information.

Why Microsoft is expanding Edge to mobile

Microsoft’s Windows Phone is dead. So as a new mobile strategy, Microsoft has decided to bring the Edge browser to iOS and Android phones in hopes of expanding the browser’s reach. Doing so helps with Microsoft brand recognition, and gives mobile users a reason to stick to Windows-based desktops.

What’s new in Edge for Android

The highlight of Microsoft Edge for Android is the “Continue on PC” feature, which enables you to move between mobile and desktop browsers without starting a browsing session from scratch. Beyond convenience, this feature is also helpful for viewing sites that aren't optimized for mobile devices.

Edge for Android also syncs Favorites, New Tab Pages, and Reading Lists between your phone and PC. And even if you're not using Edge for the cross-comparability with your desktop, the clean Reading View feature is an excellent way to declutter articles on your mobile device.

If you assumed Microsoft would restrict Edge's search engine to Bing, you'd be wrong -- the default search engine can be set to Google, Yahoo, or others.

How to get the beta version

You can try the beta Microsoft Edge for Android by signing up for the preview in the Google Play Store. For now, Edge for Android is in US English only, but the company said it plans to include other languages as the preview expands.

The official launch of Microsoft Edge for Android will be later this year. It will likely come with other announcements, such as tablet support.

Whatever device or platform you use -- whether it’s Microsoft, iOS, or Android -- make sure you get the most benefits from its features. Our IT experts keep themselves up to date with the latest IT news and know how to help you reap the benefits of the technology you have. Contact us today.

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Securing mobile devices is incredibly difficult. They often have privileged access to sensitive data that they connect to via unprotected network connections. Virtualization vendors are finding ways to include solutions to these problems in their products and they’re perfect for small businesses.

Mobile device management and virtualization

Simply put, mobile device management (MDM) is about controlling how users on any device -- from laptops to internet-connected printers -- view, share, and store sensitive information.

For example, if you have a user who accesses data via a company-provided laptop, an office copier and a personal smartphone, IT administrators can install an application on each device that enforces policies created from a centralized console.

There are dozens of standalone MDM solutions that consolidate device administration, but by using one that integrates with your virtualization platform, you can standardize policies for any industry across a range of company-owned, line-of-business, and personal devices.

Users are constantly picking up and discarding devices. Solutions like VMware’s AirWatch and Citrix’s XenMobile mean you no longer need to manage security settings for each device; instead, you can configure one virtualized environment for one employee, and its settings will be applied regardless of which device it’s accessed from.

What are the benefits?

Beyond a centralized approach to device management and data access rights, virtualized MDM solutions allow you to enjoy a number of other benefits. For example, IT administrators can remotely lock or erase data on employee devices if the device has been lost or stolen.

You can also benefit from Single Sign-On security. This means your users need only one set of login credentials to access all their applications. Technically, each application will still use a different username and password, but your virtualized solution will securely store each of the credentials and automatically log in users whenever they sign in to your MDM platform.

Hardware and software are evolving so fast that it’s almost impossible to secure them without extensive IT training. With a little help from trained professionals, virtualization is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways for business owners to simplify user settings and management.

It only makes sense that the next step would be unifying virtualized desktops, laptops, smartphones and other mobile devices under a single solution. Call us today to get started.

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