Microsoft launched the new commerce experience (NCE) in November 2019 to give customers more flexibility and choice over how and where they purchase their software.
The idea of the new commerce experience was to acknowledge the critical role partners play in selling and supporting Microsoft’s software and customers.
As part of the new commerce journey, Microsoft users will continue to receive the same great Microsoft products and support from partners such as KeyTech, that continue to boost their success.
Though not directly related to the NCE, Microsoft 365 prices were increased on March 1, 2022. Microsoft explained that the new prices reflect the value of innovation added to the software over the years since Microsoft 365 was released over a decade ago.
You can view the latest pricing tables on our Microsoft 365 page. Contact us to discuss a great deal on a combination of our products and services.
There is no doubt you have seen or heard about the scam emails, texts, and phone calls that are a daily nuisance for everyone. It may be in an email, phone call, or text format. The scam message could lure you in many ways; It may tell you that you have won a prize or a notification about an internet order or package delivery.
What is Phishing?
Phishing is a type of social engineering where the attacker sends fake messages to trick a person into disclosing sensitive details to the attacker or deploys malicious software onto a device to get private information. Phishing scams usually require the recipient to perform an action such as clicking a link, downloading a file or entering a password.
Tactics Phishing Attackers Use
Look out for emails and texts with:
Generic greetings such as “Hello Customer” rather than an actual name.
Emails requesting personal information
Emails demanding an urgent response
Emails that say you won a prize for something that you didn’t enter
Messages with poor spelling and grammar
Messages asking for money
Mismatched links in the email body
Spoofed links. Never click on a link unless you are certain it is authentic. You can hover over it first to reveal its true destination. If the email claims to be from your bank, they will never ask you to log in from an email. Also, secure links should begin with HTTPS://
Always be suspicious of texts, emails & calls from unknown sources
Scam Phone Calls: Tactics to look out for:
Unknown phone numbers
Calls seeking your personal information
Recorded messages that ask for payment or personal data
Callers who say there is an issue with your computer
Callers who require your action urgently.
Offers or deals that sound too good to be true
If the caller claims to be your bank and asks for your information
If the caller threatens you
How can you protect your business from phishing attacks?
Phishing awareness training – Most successful attacks occur due to employees unknowingly clicking on dangerous links in their emails.
If you suspect a phishing email, you can check online for scams related to the email topic or company. For example, if the email claims to be from PayPal, check PayPal’s website or sites such as www.scam-detector.com
Installing Endpoint Protection software such as Sophos, will add an extra layer of security and warn you if you click on a suspicious link. Ask us for a free trial!
A significant increase in suspected internet connection scams has occurred as of late, with NBN Co. receiving over 100 calls a day from members of the public about such scams. NBN Co. is currently in the process of rolling out the $50 billion network.
Calls to NBN’s contact centre have reached 9500 over the last three months, representing a significant increase from 6700 between October 2018 and March 2019. This comes as a sizable portion of the network is being completed ahead of the 2020 ETA. Driving awareness to combat these attacks, NBN Co’s chief security officer addressed the cause for concern by having this to say: “As we close in on the end of the network build, scammers are increasing their efforts to take advantage of the NBN brand as a way to steal people’s personal or financial details and using increasingly sophisticated ways to convince people of their legitimacy”.
What You Need to Know
NBN Co will never make unsolicited calls to seek access to your computer, threaten disconnection, or request personal details
This public awareness campaign will involve NBN Co’s community engagement team, hosting a series of information sessions to help Australians discern, avoid and report scammers. The ACCC has previously warned of social engineering attacks where scammers impersonate NBN Co in calls offering to connect them to the NBN for a low price. In some of these cases, impersonators have tricked users into giving remote access to their computers so that they could steal personal information, install malware and demand payment to fix alleged problems. If you run into someone calling you about the NBN remember this: “As NBN Co is a wholesaler, we will never contact residents or businesses to sell phone or internet services”.
Moreover, NBN Co will never make unsolicited calls or door knock for the purposes of seeking access to a person’s computer, threaten them with disconnection, or request personal details. Despite increasing public awareness, Australians are expected to lose a record amount to scams this year, with the ACCC estimating that projected losses for 2019 will surpass $500 million (an unprecedented figure).”Many people are confident they would never fall for a scam but often it’s this sense of confidence that scammers target,” the ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard states. “People need to update their idea of what a scam is so that we are less vulnerable.”
The Damage
The ACCC reports that investment scams were among the most sophisticated and convincing, with nearly half of the reported cases this year resulting in financial loss. Particularly, cryptocurrency investment scams are a serious cause for concern, with net losses reaching almost $15 million between January and July this year. This represents a significant increase from $6.1 million lost to the same type of scams last year.
You can report any suspected scams you come across here.
How 5G is changing Australian internet for small businesses and consumers.
Since the days of 1G, every new generation of mobile technology and internet has brought with it faster speeds and more functionality. Now, with 5G around the corner, the wireless technology promises to deliver speeds allowing you to download a 3GB file (like a HD film) in a mere matter of seconds (in contrasts to the current 4G technology taking a minute or 2)
Low latency Internet: What is it?
With 5G comes faster speeds, the ability to support 10 times the amount of connected devices, this is a massive boost for business mobility. How is this possible you ask? One of the major drivers behind the speed boost is called latency. Latency is the time it takes from sending a request to recieve a response over the internet.
5G internet may even deliver a 30th of the latency of 4G. Thus, 30 milliseconds on 4G may equate to 1-6 milliseconds on 5G (though it won’t be quite this fast in early days). The more rapid relay of information and fewer delays may lead to advances in various technologies.
For example, imagine a self-driving car that uses such low latency to collate information from its sensors to know what’s happening virtually in real-time, whilst also receiving updates on traffic and adjusting its route to alleviate the all-to-common congestion in Brisbane. Faster end-to-end transmission from the sensors to a cloud-based control system enables the car to collate information from the sensors and respond to hazards in a timely fashion.
“5G still has to adhere to the laws of physics – limited by the speed of light. However, with 5G technology, what has changed is the time it takes for data to travel from your device to the tower, through the server, and to a router to get somewhere,” a quote from Paul Milford, Networks Principal, Mobile Innovation Rollout at Telstra.
How can Telstra’s 5G low latency benefit small businesses in Brisbane?
This latency decrease means that business requiring fast response and reaction times can enjoy increased efficiency. Combine that with other recent innovations of the tech industry like big data and machine learning and the potential is astoundingly impressive.
According to a recent study on 5G for businesses “On top of the benefits for consumers, much of 5G’s value will come from enabling Australian business to become more efficient. Three-quarters of surveyed businesses say that faster, more reliable telecommunications would benefit their business.”
There’s predicted to be an even greater benefit for those in the tech industry. “Imagine a race where high-performance cars relay a huge variety of data, from braking to acceleration to wind dynamics, back to the team’s dashboards. Now imagine if all that data is relayed via 5G. In a car race when every millisecond matters, giving the team virtually real-time data would help them make in-the-moment racing decisions” says Mr Milford.
Other potential advances include off-site surgeons using surgical robotics and 5G internet to provide medical care to those in remote areas. The faster haptic feedback (virtual-feeling) may lead to more accurate outcomes.
What will it take to get there?
5G is anticipated to contribute up to $50 billion to Australia’s GDP by 2030 according to a recent report.
Telstra hopes to help ensure that Australian businesses are among the first in the world to harness the game-changing power of 5G. Telstra is leading in rolling out 5G networks, reaching a number of world and Australian firsts, and has already rolled out more than 200 5G capable sites.
The use cases for 5G will keep growing as the technology develops, and preparations for advances in emerging technologies like Internet of Things devices (IoT), AI, augmented and virtual reality, and even drones are set to benefit. All this depends on the quality of the underlying network.
That’s right ladies and gents, with the 2019 annual World Mobile Conference (MWC) it’s officially smartphone season! With this has come lots of revolutionary smartphones. The obligatory flagships of big brands, 5g capable phones, foldable phones (my personal favourites), and a phone with 5 cameras from Nokia. This article breaks down what we have got so far, and if I may say so myself, it’s exciting:
Huawei
I know what you’re going to say. I really do. Yes, we do still remember the spying allegations made by the US and the traction they got. But for the love of god, look at this phone! What you’re looking at is the Huawei Mate X. With a 6.6-inch front screen display and a 6.3-inch screen inch one on the back, it folds out to an 8-inch display with a resolution that almost makes you want to cry (2480 x 2200). So it’s not as though it’s without its problems, with the screens always on the outside, you’ll probably scratch it within the first day unless handling it like a newborn. Huawei has built a case for it in all fairness, and just look at it. It also won’t lie completely flat as a tablet due to a curved panel that juts out from one edge which houses, among other things, the cameras. That is still a small price to pay, and it gets better.
This phone is 5g capable, and there is a 2-in-one power button and fingerprint scanner on the side. According to Huawei, they’ve been working on their patented foldy-bit (not the technical term I’m sure) for 3 years and it doesn’t have an annoying gap (like Samsung’s Galaxy Fold) due to an intricate design with over 100 components. It is also thinner than the Galaxy Fold, and much thinner when folded (11mm, to the Fold’s 17mm). It kind of looks like Huawei blew Samsung out of the water on this one.
If you want to multi-task, you can have 2 apps running side by side on the screen at the same time, that being said Samsung has 3. It has There’s a dual, 4,500 mAh battery with 55W fast charging and dual slots for SIM cards. It has only been seen on stage in the hands of Huawei CEO Richard Yu, but it looked slim, slick and durable from the way he was handling it.
Samsung
Samsung has done all they can to overshadow MWC this year with their unveilings at their Unpacked events in San Francisco and London not long before MWC. One may question the wisdom of this decision as they’ve been matched or out-done in everything they announced once MWC rolled around. Nonetheless, DJ Koh seems happy to be first-in and almost best dressed.
A perfect example, the Samsung Galaxy Fold has solidified its place in history as the world’s first foldable smartphone. The flexible display is based on technology that has been in development as Samsung for over 10 years. The phone-tablet lichen is priced at €2,000 ($3,172.67 Australian) and features an unimpressive 4.6-inch display at the front. The inside, however, folds out to reveal an impressive 7.3-inch AMOLED display. It also has the benefit of coming from (matter of opinion) a more trustworthy company that Huawei.
Another notable mention is the Galaxy s10 series. They are available for pre-order not and are set to be released on March 8th. The series includes the 6.1-inch Galaxy, it’s big brother the 6.4 inch s10 Plus, and the proverbial runt of the litter 5.8-inch s10E.
The first ever Core i9 Processor is now here: it’s the 10 core, 20 thread Core i9-7900X
The 18 core, 36 thread 7980XE won’t ship until Q4
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[/one_second][one_second]AMD released Ryzen processors and created some buzz, but in doing so spurred some competition with Intel, the sleeping giant. After years of unchallenged supremacy it is responding to the new threat of Ryzen processors by going into all-out competitive mode. The i9 will be again the benchmark for processors.
It is no secret that Intel has dominated the high-end consumer CPU landscape for quite some time.
Intel on Tuesday took to the stage at Computex in Taipei, Taiwan, to unveil its newest range of processors, dubbed the X-Series. With its eyes set on content creators, overclockers and pro gamers, Intel is pulling out all the superlatives it can muster to talk up the “extreme” processing power it’s offering.
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But extreme doesn’t come cheap.
As the world waits for Intel’s eighth-generation processors, the company says its next iteration of seventh-gen chips will offer “extreme enthusiasts” greater speeds and less downtime with its most powerful range of processors to date.
