Prepare your business for digital disaster

Note: This article was originally published in late September 2012. However, following hurricane Sandy and increased concerns about disaster preparedness, we have decided to reprint this guide. If you have any suggestions not covered in the article, please share your ideas in a comment below.

You don’t have to look hard to find tales of technological disaster. The Gauss virus infiltrated thousands of Middle Eastern PCs, where it could intercept online banking credentials. Apple iPhones were revealed to be vulnerable to spoofed SMS messages. Floods all but demolished Western Digital’s hard drive production facilities in Thailand.

Closer to home, writer Mat Honan saw his digital life all but erased when a hacker used a couple of phone calls to order a remote wipe of his MacBook Air. Honan says that he lost more than a year’s worth of photos after the breach—photos that, of course, he hadn’t backed up.

These incidents—and to some degree, anything that goes wrong with your tech universe—have one thing in common: With careful planning, the victims could have rendered the problems much easier to recover from.

Sure, enduring a flood that wipes out your production facility is worse than losing some stored baby pictures, but disaster planning is essential for individuals and businesses of all shapes and sizes. The only real variable is the complexity of the necessary planning. For a small businesses, it’s essential to plan for disasters so that you won’t be completely crushed if catastrophe does strike. Here’s how to start.

Backups

You can sharply reduce the bad effects of most technology problems by adopting a single surprisingly simple precaution: Back up your data.

You’ve undoubtedly heard this advice before, but even computer users who have suffered crashes, malware infestations, and other data-killing disasters often find it hard to get started, fearing that regularly scheduled backups are too tedious to perform or too complicated to set up.

None of this is true today. Myriad solutions and systems have simplified the task of backing up, whether you're dealing with one computer or a dozen. Here are some strategies you can start with.

Local USB backup

This is the simplest way to perform backups, but it’s suitable for people with just one or two PCs. Plug a high-capacity USB hard drive into your computer, and set up a backup program. Windows 7 has one included—Windows 8 will add File History capabilities to the mix—and copious options exist online. If you arrange for automatic backups, so much the better.

Windows' Backup and Restore utility is fairly straightforward to use.

Synchronization

Another strategy is to keep two computers in sync so that if one goes down, the other is available so you can pick up where you left off. Again, this option is effective only for very small businesses or in environments where everyone uses the same machine. One big advantage of a sync strategy is that you can set up computers in different rooms or different parts of the building so that if something happens in one part of the workplace (or if a thief steals equipment from there), the other side of the building may still be safe. Check out GoodSync for a solid sync arrangement.

GoodSync helps you sync your data between two PCs.

NAS backup

When multiple computers need backing up, a network-attached storage (NAS) system makes excellent sense. A NAS device attaches to your router. You then use included software or your own backup program to back up to the NAS periodically. One drawback: Often, the backup software included with these drives is limited, and backup traffic can be so heavy that it floods your network. Check out the WD MyBook Live series for a great small-office NAS.

Western Digital's My Book Live NAS box provides mobile access to your files.

Online backup

If you have plenty of Internet bandwidth available, backing up online can be the most secure way to protect your data against disasters such as a house fire that destroys everything on the premises. Online backup sends your files (usually automatically) to a far-off location, removing any risk of loss from physical theft, fire, or flood at your business. Onthe other hand, some online, cloud-based services have been victimized by security breaches. That risk is probably tolerable for most of us, but if you work with highly sensitive information such as customer credit-card data, you might be best served by backing up this information locally and securing at an offsite location, such as a safe deposit box.

Antimalware and data security

Another common—and oft-ignored—tip is to install antimalware software on all of your business's PCs and keep it up to date.

This measure isn’t terribly onerous if you're dealing with a single PC, but things can get complicated and expensive if you're trying to safeguard a small-business network. Any number of paid and free single-computer security solutions are available. If you have more than a few computers, you can save money by opting for a small-business security suite package. Some of these packages are no more than a bundle of licenses for the individual suite, each of which must be installed and maintained separately. Others offer a central management console for pushing updates out to users' PCs and receiving notifications about threats found on the network. Shop around to determine the approach that works better for you.

Physical security

Software safeguards aside, a thug with a crowbar can inflict massive damage on your business. That's why physical security should be a major consideration, whether you’re a one-person shop or a company with a hundred employees. Every business owner knows to lock the doors and install an alarm system if there are valuable assets on the premises. But you should also take specific actions to protect your computer equipment, in addition to securing your building proper.

Cable locks

Cable locks are a simple way to increase any computer's security at very low cost. Almost all laptops have a special Kensington lock port, and most desktops have a metal loop that extends from the back and through which you can run a security cable. (Computers that don't have a lock port can instead use a “universal” lock system that attaches directly to the chassis.) Connect the computer to a desk with the cable, and you’ve added sufficient security to thwart most smash-and-grab operators. Be sure to store the keys to the cable locks in a secure location. You should also use a cable lock whenever you take a laptop out of the office.

LoJack systems

Kensington ClickSafe combination locks can anchor a laptop to your desk

LoJack for Laptops is software that runs unnoticed in the background but lets your laptop broadcast its location when you report it as lost. This helps law enforcement locate the computer more easily and enables you to wipe its hard drive remotely if recovery seems unlikely. Tools like Find My iPhoneoffer similar features to smartphone and tablet users. Install them before your device goes missing.

Video surveillance systems

The all-seeing eye of a camera won’t prevent determined thieves from breaking into your office, but remote surveillance systems may help you catch them red-handed. Video surveillance with motion detection will show the scene of a crime in real-time and record footage to help you pursue the bad guys later.

Fire, floods, and acts of God

Logitech Alert video surveillance system is a good choice for monitoring several locations.

We’ve dealt with thieves, but what about interventions of overwhelmiong magnitude? The general preparedness tips outlined above—especially the use of offsite backups—will help mitigate damage due to natural disasters, but a few devices can do even more, if you’re concerned that a fire or flood might whisk away your life’s work.

For digital storage, ioSafe makes a range of external hard drives designed to resist both fire (at up to 1550 degrees Fahrenheit) and water (a water column of up to 10 feet for 3 days). Keep analog essentials such as paper documents (and printouts of essential data) either offsite in a safe deposit box or in a sturdy fire safe on the premises. These inexpensive safeguards are well worth the investment.

And of course, you should include high-quality surge protectors or UPSs on all high-tech equipment for protection against power surges and lightning strikes.

Insurance

You can replace computer equipment, but that costs money. And if your business is out of commission for a month or two while you rebuild from a fire, you won’t be earning anything along the way. That problem can destroy a company that might withstand the physical damage caused by a disaster.

Generally, insurance is the best safeguard against financial ruin. Standard property insurance will cover the loss of hardware, but business interruption insurance is essential if you want a safety net to preserve your company against lost sales.

Succession planning

One other component of your small business needs to be protected: you. Do you want your business continue to operate after you’ve shuffled off this mortal coil? If the plan is to shut it down, how will that happen? How will ongoing ownership issues be determined? Who’s going to run the show?

These are complicated issues that any small-business owner should discuss with a qualified estate planner to resolve, and any protégés being groomed to take over when you’re gone need to be aware of the plans well in advance. Software such as Quicken WillMaker steps an individual through basic estate planning. It's a serious subject, but tackling the creation of a will and a succession plan while you’re young and healthy is far better than waiting until you’re lying in a hospital bed. Make it a priority to create a continuity plan (or a dissolution plan, if you aren't going to pass the business along to an heir), and revisit it annually to ensure that it’s up to snuff.

Source: pcworld.com

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How to ensure Facebook posts you want to see aren't hidden

Your News Feed may appear full, but there's a good chance you're not seeing everything that the brands and businesses you've "liked" are posting.

A change to EdgeRank, Facebook's algorithm that determines what posts are seen by whom, is sparking controversy among Page administrators and Facebook users.

Some experts suggest that the changes were made to improve users' experience by ensuring businesses and brands post more interesting, engaging content. Others say Facebook wants businesses and brands to dish out money for advertising to reach more of its audience.

Whether for improved user experience or profit, one thing is clear: Page managers report a drastic decline in user engagement and activity on their page within the last month, which means you aren't seeing the content they post.

The good news: There is a quick fix to remedy this, but it's not available to all users yet. In addition, Facebook confirmed this week that it's rolling out a feature that will notify you when a friend, business or brand posts something you might be interested in.

"We are currently rolling out the ability for people to receive notifications from specific pages, friends or public figures that they are connected to," Facebook says. "This feature will help people to keep up with the people and things that they care most about."

Here's what you need to know about both.

Are you seeing all Facebook posts?

To ensure you receive all updates from a business or brand you have liked, visit its Facebook page. Hover over the "Liked" button below the page's cover photo, and a list of options will appear.

The top option is "Get Notifications." By opting in, you'll receive an alert in your Notifications center whenever that page posts something new. You'll also see the alert in the bottom-left of Facebook, if you're currently logged in.

Click the second option, "Show in News Feed," to make sure all the page's posts appear in your news feed.

Source: techhive.com

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Calling all Linux Mint fans: There's a new online store to check out

The month of October may have been more or less dominated by Ubuntu Linux for those of us anticipating its recent “Quantal Quetzal” release, but this week the Linux Mint project made an intriguing announcement of its own.

Specifically, the Linux Mint project on Tuesday announced that it now has an online store complete with several PCs offering Linux Mint preloaded.

“In partnership with CompuLab, ThinkPenguin, OSDisc, and HELLOTUX, we are proud to announce a new section on our website: The Linux Mint Store,” wrote Linux Mint founder and project leader Clement Lefebvre in the official announcement.

'Income for the distribution'

The Linux Mint project does not produce, sell, or ship anything other than software, Lefebvre explained.

Rather, “thanks to a network of strong and reliable partners we are now able to provide Linux Mint products to the community while creating another source of income for the distribution,” he wrote.

Items in the Linux Mint store link to partner websites, where purchases can be made. Examples of products currently for sale include the mintBox, which I covered earlier this year, along with desktop and notebook computers from ThinkPenguin as well as Live DVDs and USB sticks, apparel, stickers, and badges.

A portion of all sales is donated to the Linux Mint project, including 10 percent of the price of all computers bought through the Linux Mint Store.

The preloaded phenomenon

There seems to be no end in sight to the devices increasingly sold with Linux preloaded, so it's particularly exciting to see these new Mint machines from ThinkPenguin join the list.

The new desktop devices sold through the Linux Mint Store are priced starting at $249, while notebook PCs begin at $499.

Add these to a growing line of competitors from Asus, System76, Dell, and others, and it's starting to look like an embarrassment of riches for Linux fans.

Source: pcworld.com

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Evolution of the Keyboard

When Bill Buxton worked at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center in the early 1990s, he examined the classic children's homemade telephones: two cups connected by a taut string. He wondered why that same concept couldn't improve computer keyboards.

Think about it. The cup is both a microphone and a speaker. It uses the same "hardware" for input and output of sound. Why, Buxton asked, couldn't the same principle apply to text on computers—using a single device for both input and output of text rather than using input from a keyboard to produce output on a screen?

Buxton wasn't alone in recognizing an eventual fusion of the two. Fast-forward a couple decades—and add myriad researchers and huge corporate R&D budgets—and we have touch-screen keyboards on tablets and smartphones. Inputs and outputs share the same surface. The keyboard has fused with the screen, at least for some computing tasks.

But as anyone who's typed on a virtual keyboard—or yelled at a voice-control app like Siri—can attest, no current text input holds a candle to a traditional computer keyboard when it comes to comfort, speed and accuracy. Maybe eventually we'll connect computers to our neurons, but in the meantime, the simple yet highly functional electromechanical keyboard will be around -- and keep improving -- for some time.

Decades after its introduction in the mid-'80s,
IBM's classic Model M remains a favorite
for keyboard purists.

Buxton, now a design guru at Microsoft Research, still closely examines old keyboards for forgotten tricks and technologies that could spawn new ways of thinking about how we enter information into a computer.

"Many of the great discoveries are right under our noses," he says when discussing the future of the keyboard. "A lot of the stuff that's emerging as new is rooted in things that have happened in the past -- and in some cases the really distant past."

Before we look at where computer keyboards might go in the future, then, let's look at where they've been.

Keying up the past

The evolution of the keyboard is not a clean timeline. Contributions to its look, feel and underpinning technologies sometimes draw from preceding models and other times from a far corner of the inventor's universe.

The first devices we'd recognize as related to modern keyboards date from the 19th century. In 1852 John Jones patented a "mechanical typographer," and 15 years laterChristopher Sholes received a patent for a "type-writing machine" -- what is usually considered the original typewriter. Some aspects of even these very early keyboards inform a lot about the design today.

"The typewriter [keyboard] had all sorts of functions. The shift key was really big because you needed a big surface area to push down and raise the carriage up," says David Hill, vice president of design and user experience at computer manufacturer Lenovo. "There was a mechanical advantage required."

Early computer keyboards mimicked
the feel of IBM's classic Selectric typewriter.

As far as direct influences on the modern computer keyboard, IBM's Selectric typewriter was one of the biggest. IBMreleased the first model of its iconic electromechanical typewriter in 1961, a time when being able to type fast and accurately was a highly sought-after skill.

Dag Spicer, senior curator at the Computer History Museum, notes that as the Selectric models rose to prominence, admins grew to love the feel of the keyboard because of IBM's dogged focus on making the ergonomics comfortable. "IBM's probably done more than anyone to find [keyboard] ergonomics that work for everyone," Spicer says. So when the PC hit the scene a decade or two later, the Selectric was largely viewed as the baseline to design keyboards for those newfangled computers you could put in your office or home.

In the late 1970s, companies like Cherry, Key Tronic and the Micro Switch division of Honeywell took off with their own approaches to mimicking the mechanical feel of a typewriter with the circuitry of a computer keyboard. "It was a real big deal back then," says Craig Gates, CEO of KeyTronicEMS, as the company is now called. "How the [keyboard] felt, how reliable it was, what speed could be achieved with a certain design of the switch."

Early switch designs

One of the first computer keyboard designs from the early '70s incorporated reed switches, which work with a magnet and two metal filaments. When the magnetic field gets close enough, it pulls the two filaments together and thus completes a circuit -- or, in the case of a key, a keystroke.

This Key Tronic keyboard used reed switches to
record keystrokes.

These keyboards housed circuit boards with 100 to 120 reed switches, each covered by a key. Underneath each key top was a tiny magnet. When someone depressed the key, the magnet made the filaments touch, thus generating an electrical signal for the desired character to type.

But filaments are fragile. (If you've dealt with busted holiday lights, you know this.) So these reed switch keyboards weren't reliable, Gates explains. If one broke or got out of alignment, or if dust obstructed the contact points, the key wouldn't work anymore—and, unlike holiday lights, individual keys weren't easy to replace.

In addition, they were subject to microvibrations that opened and closed the switch a few times in a single keystroke, thus tricking the computer into thinking the letter had been pressed several times successively. (Microvibrations are still an issue in some keyboards, but microprocessors filter them out.)

KeyTronic shows off the layers of its capacitive keyboards f
rom the late '80s and early '90s.

So in the late '70s, Gates says, reed switches began to give way to keys that relied on a magnetic principle called the Hall Effect. These keyboards, made by Micro Switch and others, didn't use physical contact points to complete a keystroke—instead they used magnetism, which can be less precise (and thus less liable to error) and doesn't require as many moving parts.

Meanwhile, Key Tronic, keen to get away from reed switches, developed the capacitive switch, which worked by putting a little bit of aluminum under the key top. When the key was depressed, that foil changed the capacitance of the circuit board underneath and a microprocessor registered a keystroke. This idea was soon improved upon with membrane keyboards, which simplified the capacitance mechanisms under the key and brought down production costs.

Trimming hardware, cutting costs

Though the materials sound cheap, keyboards were expensive in the early '80s. The typical keyboards Key Tronic and Micro Switch sold to computer makers ran about $100, as opposed to three or four bucks for the typical OEM keyboard today. To cut costs in a fiercely competitive market, keyboard manufacturers began to look for ways to cut hardware from the key while ensuring that the key tops, key weights, balance, foundation and "distance to travel"—the space it takes to register a keystroke—were familiar to users' fingers.

This required evaluating the hardware that makes the key move up and down. The "snap point" is one of the most important concepts that govern a keystroke, according to Aaron Stewart, a Lenovo senior design engineer reportedly nicknamed "Mr. Keyboard." This is the point where the key pops, your brain registers you've typed a letter and you pull back your finger. Think back to the first time you typed on a touch screen—remember the shock of not having the snap point?

Patented in 1978, the buckling spring key
mechanism drove IBM's popular PC keyboards for 

Additionally, keyboard makers have to consider the "break force" of the key, which has to provide enough resistance to allow your fingers to rest on the key top without inadvertently depressing it, but also needs to be weak enough to let you type without feeling like you're punching through a membrane with each keystroke.

In 1978, IBM received a patent for a "buckling spring" key mechanism that mimicked the feel of the old Selectrics. The mechanism worked with a small spring attached to non-parallel surfaces under the keycap.

The spring coiled normally when depressed but "buckled" to the side at the snap point due to the non-parallel surfaces of attachment -- and created the familiar click-clack sound of IBM's popular Model M keyboard and other old keyboards. The buckled portion of the spring activated the circuit, which generated the keystroke.

In a rubber-dome keyboard (shown upside down), the key caps
push down on the domes, which collapse, closing circuits
 and recording keystrokes, and then snap back.

But cost cutting gave way to newer ways of suspending the key by IBM and other manufacturers. Rubber domes, which work with the same snapping principle as a toilet plunger, and scissor switches, which also have a rubber dome but use a scissoring mechanism attached to the key top to push down the dome, came to prominence in the late '80s and early '90s.

Part of the goal of the new designs was to reduce the distance of travel. Comfort and speed when typing depend on the distance of travel for the key on each stroke. Shaving off precious fractions of millimeters improved the typing experience for many users.

"Compared to historical examples, today's desktops and notebooks have roughly 40 percent less [distance to travel]," Lenovo's Hill points out. Typing on rubber-dome and scissor-switch keyboards is usually quieter as well.

The scissoring mechanism used in scissor-switch keyboards
shortens the distance a key must travel to record a stroke.

These designs were also cheaper to produce, pushing keyboards to commodity status, according to Gates, and these two types of springs still underpin most of the computer keyboards on the market. Today the low-profile scissor-switch keys are typically found in notebooks and thin keyboards, including the chiclet-style keyboards on Apple's laptops. The taller rubber-dome keys are typically found in standard desktop keyboards and use an interlocking "chimney" structure in place of a scissors to stabilize the key travel.

As with any bygone technology, though, there are still enthusiasts who swear by the old IBM buckling springs. Indeed, keyboards with mechanical switches have undergone something of a renaissance in recent years as users pine for their crisp tactile feedback.

Thinner, lighter...one-handed?

Today, making a thin laptop with a great keyboard is no easy task. Designers run through a startling amount of math and habit analysis to arrive at very precise distances and positions between keys, which need to be exactly where our brain expects them or we'll type more slowly and make more errors. Meanwhile, ergonomic factors must be weighed against dimensions, weight and other practical design considerations, explains Lenovo's Stewart.

Ultrabooks like the Vizio Thin + Light strive for a
 top-grade keyboard in an ultraslim profile

Dish-shaped key tops guide the finger to the center of the key, but the concave shape makes it trickier to keep a laptop thin. A keyboard requires a solid foundation, but the additional material for a good base can add weight. The other side of the coin is that reducing the amount of materials in the keyboard frees space for microprocessors and a bigger battery. Stewart calls the sum of all of these design factors a moving target.

Manufacturers are constantly trying to cut costs and make the keyboard smaller—yet people want a consistency from their keyboards. It's the foundation of their interface with the computer. A company can tweak all the mechanisms or circuitry under the keycap, but if it makes for a poor typing experience, people won't buy the product. Keyboard manufacturers have to weigh the value of innovation against the ergonomic impact.

For now, Stewart believes that range of innovation extends only to the space under the keycap. "With the technology we have today, we think there is a finite limit of being able to create [thin, high-quality keyboards]," he says.

Synaptics says its new ThinTouch key technology
will mean stunningly thin keyboards.

Dish-shaped key tops guide the finger to the center of the key, but the concave shape makes it trickier to keep a laptop thin. A keyboard requires a solid foundation, but the additional material for a good base can add weight. The other side of the coin is that reducing the amount of materials in the keyboard frees space for microprocessors and a bigger battery. Stewart calls the sum of all of these design factors a moving target.

Manufacturers are constantly trying to cut costs and make the keyboard smaller—yet people want a consistency from their keyboards. It's the foundation of their interface with the computer. A company can tweak all the mechanisms or circuitry under the keycap, but if it makes for a poor typing experience, people won't buy the product. Keyboard manufacturers have to weigh the value of innovation against the ergonomic impact.

For now, Stewart believes that range of innovation extends only to the space under the keycap. "With the technology we have today, we think there is a finite limit of being able to create [thin, high-quality keyboards]," he says.

Tactus' technology uses microfluidics to provide tactile
buttons that rise up from a touch screen's surface.

An outfit called Tactus is taking a different approach with microfluidics "buttons" -- essentially small pouches on the surface of the screen that fill with liquid, appearing only when you need to type. When they're not in use, they deflate, leaving a flat surface. Tactus CEO Craig Ciesla is hopeful that his company, like Synaptics, will have something ready for the market by the middle of next year.

Yet even as it looks toward the future, one of Tactus' core technologies is rooted in the past. Ciesla points out that microfluidics has been around for a couple decades in industries like biotech and computer printers. "We're just redeploying it in a novel and unique way," he notes.

Will wraparound keyboards like this Twitch concept
design provide a comfortable way to
type on mobile devices?

Moving in a whole different direction, a company called Twitch Technologies is developing add-on products such as a pair of one-handed keyboards that wrap around the left and right edges of tablets. Your fingers type on the back of the device and your thumbs on the front, and you use finger combinations to type letters -- for example, depressing your left pinky and right thumb might get you an A—rather than one key per letter for the QWERTY layout. (Don't hunt for Twitch's keyboards in stores yet; they're still in the concept stage.)

Reinventing the layout of the keyboard is hard for us to imagine, but even one-handed keyboards with no letters on them have roots in the past. When inventor Doug Englebart gave "The Mother of All Demos"—introducing myriad computing technologies we still use today, like the mouse and videoconferencing—he demoed a five-finger chorded keyboard that produced letters with different finger combinations. That was in 1968.

The catch, as Microsoft's Buxton points out, is that when you implement a new keyboard, everyone has to learn to type again. But it may just be worth it.

Caleb Garling is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle covering technology and business. He used to be on the staff of Wired, covering enterprise technology and culture. He has caught a trout barehanded only twice in his life.

Source: pcworld.com

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Can a refreshed Google Wallet finally take off?

A large challenge for Google on mobile payments is still one of availability. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon are working on their own mobile payment service, called Isis, and have resisted putting Google Wallet on their handsets.

That may be part of the reason why Google is getting more aggressive in offering Nexus phones that aren't tied to the major carriers. The recently-announced Nexus 4will be sold unlocked and contract-free for $300 and up.

Now, Google reportedly is testing a physical card for Google Wallet, which would work at stores that don't support tap-and-pay from mobile phones.

The Google Wallet card would store payment details from multiple credit and debit cards, Android Police reports, citing an anonymous source. Through the Google Wallet app, users select which of those payment methods to use by default, then swipe and sign the Google Wallet card as they would with a regular credit card.

The idea is that Google Wallet users can leave all their other credit cards at home. All they'd need is their smartphone and the Google Wallet card—and maybe some cash. Because the Wallet app can control which method of payment is associated with the card, it could make sense for users who spread their payments across multiple credit and debit cards.

Also, if the Google Wallet card is lost or stolen, users can cancel it, and won't have to cancel all their other credit and debit cards. In leaked screenshots, Google says it offers fraud monitoring and the ability to remotely disable the card at any time.

Changes for Google Wallet?

As Android Police notes, the physical card may be just a part of some big changes for Google Wallet. Other features may include support for transit cards, money transfers between users, and a “Wallet Balance” from which users can deposit and withdraw. Google has said that it wants to bring discount cards, tickets, and identification into Wallet to compete with the iPhone's Passbook feature.

Google may also be working on a way to bring a version of Wallet to other devices such as the iPhone. A recent sign-up page for news on “the next version of Google Wallet” asked visitors whether they used an Android device, an iPhone or “other.”

The iPhone doesn't support near-field communications, so any service would likely rely on barcode scanning instead.

Even if Google Wallet doesn't take off, the added features and availability should make it more useful. Ultimately, any mobile wallet service needs a clear answer for why people should use it instead of their existing cash and cards. It'll be interesting to see how Google answers that question when it's ready to show off what's next for Google Wallet.

Source: techhive.com

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Cell-site outages fall to 19 percent in area hit by Sandy, FCC says

About 19 percent of cell sites in the area hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy were still out of service on Thursday as recovery was slowed by other network failures and power shortages, according to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

By 10 a.m. EDT Thursday, the outages had declined from about 22 percent of all cell sites in the region a day earlier, the FCC said in a statement on Thursday afternoon. That was an average across the area most affected by the storm, stretching across parts of 10 states. In addition, cable TV and cable Internet outages had been reduced to about 12 percent to 14 percent, the agency said.

"Overall, we're seeing both continued improvement in communications networks and also that much work remains to be done to restore service fully," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in the statement. As a key part of the recovery effort, the agency is working with federal, state and local authorities to help get fuel to generators, he said.

Service gaps in hard-hit areas

There was steady improvement in the wired and wireless communications networks across the storm area, but restoration of service in the areas hardest hit, such as New York and New Jersey, has been more difficult, said David Turetsky, head of the FCC's Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau. Some sites that could otherwise have come back online were held back by failures elsewhere in the communications infrastructure, he said.

The FCC said its Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) remained active, and the agency was still collecting data from carriers about the effects of the storm.

Emergency 911 calls are being received throughout the storm-affected area, though in some cases they are being re-routed to other 911 centers or don't contain location information, the FCC said.

On Thursday, the major wired and wireless carriers continued to bring facilities back up and deployed portable cell sites, some of which offered free device charging for people who had lost power.

T-Mobile USA reported that its network had been 85 percent restored in New York City and 80 percent restored on Staten Island. Verizon Communications said it had restored backup power to four critical facilities in lower Manhattan and one on Long Island that had suffered from flooding on Monday night. Those included the company's Manhattan headquarters.

Though Sandy had been downgraded from hurricane status before it reached land on Monday, it devastated a wide swath of the East Coast from North Carolina to Canada, stretching west to Michigan. The worst damage was in New York City and northern New Jersey.

At a press conference on Thursday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said AT&T was deploying portable cell sites near emergency assistance centers that have been set up around the city to help residents and distribute food. The trucks use satellite to connect to the rest of AT&T’s network and the Internet. Visitors can charge their mobile devices at the portable cells.

Verizon Wireless has also deployed cell sites on wheels where needed throughout the Northeast. The company has set up Wireless Emergency Communications Centers (WECCs) at Monmouth University in New Jersey and at two sites in Toms River, New Jersey, plus “stores on wheels” in Sea Girt and Howell, New Jersey. It’s offering device charging and free domestic calls to local residents at the WECCs and all its open store locations.

Meanwhile, Verizon Enterprise Solutions said cloud and data centers operated by Verizon and Verizon Terremark have remained operational and their services were unaffected.

Late on Thursday, Sprint Nextel said its network had been fully restored in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Maine, Vermont, Ohio and Kentucky. After “significant progress,” the network was more than 90 percent operational in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

But service was harder to come by in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, where the network was only 80 percent restored—only 75 percent in New York City.

Source: techhive.com

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Comcast offers free Wi-Fi in the wake of Sandy

Comcast will offer use of its Wi-Fi network free of charge to those hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy, the cable and Internet provider said on Wednesday. The network, which is typically free for unlimited use by those with an Xfinity Internet account, is now open to the public through November 7.

Hotspots in Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. are part of the offer. A list of these hotspots can be found using Xfinity’s Wi-Fi coverage map available from the Comcast website.

Comcast’s hotspots can be found both indoors and outdoors in parks, public places, public transportation, and shopping malls. The cable provider operates some 50,000 of these hotspots across the country, mostly across the Northeast and in California.

To use the free Wi-Fi, look for the “xfinitywifi” network at a participating hotspot. On the page that pops up after connecting, look for the link that says “Not a Comcast Subscriber?” toward the bottom of the page. Click it, then select “Complementary Trial Session.” Comcast will allow you to renew your connection every two hours.

Obviously, the availability of these hotspots is dependent on both power and cable service being available at that location. In the hardest hit areas, that may be a bit tough: Current estimates put some 7 million people without power, and as much a a quarter of residents in the ten states affected by Sandy without broadband service.

Another caveat is that Comcast’s offer of free Wi-Fi only extends to hotspots operated by Comcast directly. Those operated by partners such as Cablevision and Time Warner Cable are not part of the promotion. That includes some of the hardest hit areas—including New York City, Long Island and Connecticut.

Neither company had announced similar plans for free Wi-Fi to those affected by Sandy as of Wednesday afternoon.

Source: techhive.com

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