Tasmanian IT Blog   •   May 24, 2019

Each week, we post a “Take 5” article to our website with tips, tricks, thoughts and actions we’ve come across during the week that we feel you may benefit from too.

It’s designed to be short and sharp that you can read when you need to “Take 5”.

Grab a drink, give yourself a (productive) break and check out our latest 5 below.

1. The Peculiar Blindness of Experts. 

Credentialed authorities are comically bad at predicting the future. But reliable forecasting is possible, most famously Stanford biologist Paul R. Ehrlich in his 1968 best seller, The Population Bomb, Ehrlich insisted that it was too late to prevent a doomsday apocalypse resulting from overpopulation. Ehrlich wrote “I challenge you to create one more optimistic,” and The economist Julian Simon took up Ehrlich’s challenge. Follow up on this and many more example in this great book.

David Epstein’s book  Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

Link: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0735214484/theatla05-20/

2. Remote Support

Each week we aim to give you a resource that you can utilise in the work place.  Today we are looking at how to remotely support your team or clients.

While trying to triage issues over the phone can work – often there is more to the story than what is being said.  In this case, being able to remotely login and see exactly what is on the screen can save enormous amounts of time, effort and sanity.

There are a number of services that provide this function, from free services for personal (non-business) use, to commercial grade options.  While Microsoft Remote Desktop is a great option, it does have limitations so we’ve looked at what else is around. One such commercial option that we have had a lot of success with is DameWare (link below).  This product allows you to remote in and see exactly what is happening on the screen of the user you are supporting.  You can share mouse and keyboard access, save connections that you regularly utilise and the end user does not need to actively install any software to allow the connection – this is performed from the support users end.

If you are looking around, another service to consider is TeamViewer (https://www.teamviewer.com/en/).  What other services do you think our readers should consider?

Link: https://www.dameware.com/

3. Google suspends business with Huawei

Google’s shock decision to suspend business operations with Huawei has sparked confusion and uncertainty among fans of the Chinese giant’s devices, with many vowing to steer clear of the next generation of Huawei devices altogether. Read the full story on what it means for you here.

Link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-21/will-googles-huawei-ban-affect-your-device/11131158

4. AirDrop and How to Protect Yourself

The AirDrop technology has recently entered the political realm, with election materials promoting one political party’s information being sent to unsuspecting commuters on a busy Melbourne train. Australian online safety experts have warned about a rise in this new digital phenomenon where images are anonymously sent to strangers through iPhones.  It is very easy to protect yourself so as not to fall victim to this simply by changing the privacy default your phone settings.  Instructions on how to do that are here.

Link:  https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT204144

5. Quote of the week

“We are, finally, all wanderers in search of knowledge. Most of us hold the dream of becoming something better than we are, something larger, richer, in some way more important to the world and ourselves. Too often, the way taken is the wrong way, with too much emphasis on what we want to have, rather than what we wish to become.”

— Louis L’Amour American novelist and short-story writer

Have a great week from the Tasmanian IT Team