It’s been another busy week here in Beachwood, and it’s hard to believe it’s already Friday. Aside from selling lots of hardware, talking to lots of people, and creating numerous proposals, I don’t have anything exciting to report. So, let’s get down to business… scroll on down to learn more about emergency data requests, and home shopping, along with basketball and sausages.
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Emergency Data Requests
It seems that police departments around the world are being hacked and compromised for the purpose of creating fake emergency data requests (EDR). When hackers have access to police department email accounts, they can create fake EDRs used for the purpose of targeting other companies to acquire specific data about specific users. Evidently, lots of police departments don’t have proper cyber security in place, and companies with lots of data are apt to provide the requested data when hit with “if you don’t, John Doe might die”.
Ashton News
For those of you who are Ashton clients (and those who are considering it), we wanted you to be aware that we’re in the process of moving to a new ERP/ticketing system, which will soon be rolling out. You’ll be receiving more information over the next week or two, but this is something that our internal team has been working on for many months now.
We’ve been on the existing platform for over 10 years, and while it was the industry leader for many years, it’s time for a change. For our clients, it’s going to bring greater convenience and ease of use, and for our engineers, it’ll lead to greater efficiency and fewer headaches. And supposedly, that will also translate to those of us on the sales side of the building. Keep your eyes open for further updates.
Security Updates
Fortinet has a couple of security updates this month and so does Palo Alto. Neither of those are solutions that we provide, although I know they’re popular in the market. In other news of more common products, Microsoft has updates for SQL server and other random items, and Adobe has updates for Photoshop and InDesign, amongst others. Take this as your reminder that your IT resource should be patching your systems on a regular basis. And if it’s not an automated, standardized process, it should be!
Shopping
Want to shop while you watch tv? More streaming TV providers are building “shoppable” ads into their programming. And I imagine it won’t be long before everything you see on your TV will be easily clickable so that you can look, act, and eat like your favorite TV characters.
Ronald McDonald
If you’re not familiar with our friends at Ronald McDonald House, you should check out this new video. Like all of our non-profit clients, they do great things for a variety of people in need. And while this relates specifically to the Akron location, they’re part of Ronald McDonald House of NE Ohio, which covers both the Akron and Cleveland locations with which we work.
Basketball
Make note of the date, as this is the first and probably the last time that I include NBA basketball in this publication. I’ll watch just about any sport, but the NBA is painful, as far as I’m concerned. Happy to go to a game on occasion, but I never watch it on tv. That said, I’m happy to hear that the Cavs are off to a big start, and I was surprised to read about them in The New Yorker, of all things…
Wheel of Fortune
The first time this Wheel of Fortune clip appeared in my inbox this week, I laughed. By the time I’d seen it a couple of more times in the inbox, a few times on TV, and then on social, I figured I should share it. Make sure to think before you speak.
It’s been awhile since we’ve had a quiet Friday night to sit at home and do nothing, so it was appropriate that as I was thinking about putting a fire in the fireplace tonight, this article about exploding lithium ion batteries (and how to know when they’re about to explode) appeared. I’ve gotten to be a pretty good firestarter, but definitely not that fast (make sure to watch the video). Otherwise, the Buckeyes are on the tube from Wrigley Field tomorrow, and the Browns are out of town so my Sunday is free. Here’s hoping you keep warm and enjoy your weekend.
Abbey