SaaS and cloud articles.
Client Name: Veronika K.
Service Details: Business client, on-site consult, on-site support, remote support, remote consult
Problem and Request: Client is an executive assistant that needed help with keeping her boss’s personal and business affairs organized, secured, and easy to use. The status quo of using a mix of personal Gmail and iCloud accounts was difficult to work with, fragmented, and insecure.
Continue reading “Google Apps for Executive Assistant and Boss”
If you’re nervous about cloud computing, you’re not alone. A new report on IT decision makers shows enterprise trust in cloud security at its lowest — yet they’re flocking to use it.
Continue reading “The CIA Trusts the Cloud, and So Should You”
Smartphone cameras have gotten so good that many folks use them instead of dedicated point-and-shoots. Both hardware and software on phones now offer sophisticated features that let even lousy photographers take decent photos.
When Netflix started, it was a simple DVD rental and delivery service. It changed how we rent movies and, in only a few years, managed to almost completely destroy video rental stores. As far as I see it, cable is next on the chopping block.
With the evolution of instant streaming, Netflix has completely changed the way we view accessibility to entertainment.
Netflix offers most everything I might need. They release new movies in every genre that I can go through at any time, and watch at my own schedule. There’s entire series of television shows (aside: I would like to thank Netflix for catching me up on Parks and Rec., introducing me to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and opening my eyes to Breaking Bad) and gives me an incredible variety of movies that I can watch whenever I want. I can access it on my computer, on my phone, on my XBOX, wherever I need it.
Cable? No, I can’t do that with cable. I have to pay for a separate box, pay for what channels I want (and let’s face it. HBO is necessary if you’re going to have cable), and pay extra for a DVR. Come on.
I don’t have cable. I find it to be an unnecessary cost in a world where everything is instantly accessible on the Internet and one cord plugs my computer into my television. Netflix also gives me way more bang for my buck: the cost difference of $8/month vs. about $60 is ridiculous. When I’m rich, and don’t have to think about that kind of expense, maybe I’ll get cable again.
Cable, as far as I’m concerned, is losing the younger generations to instant streaming accessibility, and is in serious trouble as a content delivery system. And now that Netflix is producing original content with the incredible House of Cards and the upcoming season of Arrested Development (which I’m convinced is going to crash the Netflix servers the night it premieres), they have changed the game again.
If Netflix continues to successfully produce its own shows, they won’t have to rely on cable networks for content the same way cable relies on them for distribution.
Now, what once started as a complimentary source of content to cable is a legitimate, Emmy worthy, competitor.
Do your websites take forever to load? Even with the latest hardware and web browsing software, it’s frustrating to have to spend precious seconds just sitting there, waiting for your favorite sites to download.
Not all websites are created equal, however. Some sites are optimized to be fast and responsive, while others are overstuffed with large image files, advertisements, multiple tracking scripts, and other bandwidth-hungry objects that consume your browsing time and eat away at your ever-dwindling online attention span.
If you suspect that your favorite website (not your computer) is slow, a good way to test the speed of that URL is to use an online web page speed test tool. These tools utilize remote servers to run a series of tests, and produce data on access times, load times, and size of the specified URL.
After making a few improvements to www.SilverLeafCS.COM, I decided to put my site’s performance to the test using four popular online tools. Check out the results below!
GTmetrix – an online tool that uses YSlow and PageSpeed to evaluate your website’s front-end performance, giving you easy-to-understand information.
This free online website speed-testing tool by Pingdom provides you with several reports such as a breakdown of how long each web page object takes to download and performance grades for things like browser caching.
Google’s Page Speed Online analyzes your website’s performance under Google’s Web Performance Best Practices (a set of rules for optimal front-end performance). You can gain lots of information from this handy web tool – it even includes a report for mobile device best practices for optimal performance.
WebPageTest.org offers a powerful online tool tests your web page’s rendering speed in real browsers, and gives you a choice of conducting the test from several locations around the world. It also has advanced settings with options for simulating common Internet connection speeds. You can view the results of the test as a “waterfall”, getting detailed information about a site’s performance over time.
After implementing various performance enhancements, like compressing images, page caching, and deploying a content distribution network (CDN), I’m happy to say that www.SilverLeafCS.COM is loading faster than ever!
(Free website speed testing descriptions courtesy of sixrevisions.com)
