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The All-New Surface Go: What You Need To Know

There’s no shortage of gizmos and gadgets to choose from in today’s tech world, but not all are created equal, and some are exceptionally unique, like the new Microsoft Surface Go. The Surface Go is the tech giant’s way of combining the Surface Pro’s premium features with affordability and portability – two of the most sought-after features for laptop and tablet owners, understandably. Touted as the “smallest and most affordable Surface yet,” the Go is one of Microsoft’s most exciting new ventures, and with its August debut fast approaching, there’s plenty to know about this trailblazing 2-in-1.

Those familiar with the Microsoft Surface line may have a solid idea of what’s to come in the Go. Here are a few of the most interesting aspects of the Microsoft Surface Go, including specs, price, and all the things you can do with this piece of gadgetry in tow.

What Does It Look Like?

One of the Go’s most endearing qualities is certainly its tiny size. Like its predecessor, the Go is a tablet that attaches firmly to Microsoft’s Type Cover keyboard. Measuring at 9.6 by 6.9 inches, it’s just 8.3 mm thin and weighs only 1.15 pounds. About the size of a composite notebook, with a 10-inch diagonal display that’s sufficient for everything from business to entertainment, the Go is primed for accessibility, above all.

With a gadget made for accessibility comes a need for durability. The Surface Go boasts a magnesium enclosure and an ultra-bright, high-resolution touchscreen bonded with durable Gorilla Glass. And with respect to the design of the Go, convenience is key. It comes complete with a kickstand that extends to 165 degrees, as well as support for a stylus pen, which can magnetically attach to the tablet.

There are also plenty of ports to keep you productive all day. There is, of course, the charging port, but in addition, you’ll find a USB-C 3.1 for data and video, as well as a MicroSD card reader and a headphone jack.

What Can The Surface Go Do?

When designing the Go, in addition to portability and affordability, Microsoft aimed for productivity. They sought to create a device that would be sufficient for both work and play. From Office apps for business and school to Netflix and Hulu for entertainment, Microsoft’s team kept a wide variety of users and uses in mind to create a gadget that checks all the boxes.

When it comes to display, the Surface Go doesn’t skimp. Its high-resolution PixelSense Display is custom-built and can support the Surface Pen with exceptional pressure sensitivity, low latency, low pen parallax and precision. All of this results in near-perfect note taking, design, and drawing.

Easy on the eyes but bold enough for vibrant videos, art, and photos, the Surface Go isn’t short on aesthetics in the least. Even the Surface Pro’s screen capabilities are unique. When in portrait mode, the screen is designed to fit the scale of school textbooks. While in landscape mode, pages will appear side by side, mimicking a paperback in your hand.

Power-wise, despite its small size, the Surface Go is nothing to scoff at. It gets its power from a 7th Generation Intel Pentium Gold Processor 4415Y, which allows for up to nine hours of battery. Other features include Windows’ Hello face recognition camera, which will be used for bio-authentication, plus two front-facing speakers and a sufficient 8-megapixel rear camera to capture high-quality photos.

How Much Does The Surface Pro Cost?

Compared to the Surface Pro, the Go is a steal, and the most affordable Surface ever. When it ships in early August, it will cost $399. With this, users will receive 64 gigabytes of internal storage, plus 4 gigabytes of RAM. More costly options include one with 256 gigabytes of storage and an impressive 8 gigabytes of RAM, as well as an LTE version, which will be available later in 2018.

If you’re looking for add-ons, you’ve got options in a Type Cover keyboard and stylus pen. The Surface Go has the option of a signature Type Cover, custom-made with design features that make for a superb typing experience. Ergonomic key pitch, excellent key travel, and high precision tuning are a few other details you’ll find in the Type Cover. There is also the option to connect your device to the Surface Mobile Mouse for further convenience.

Wrap Up

With an ever-growing number of laptops, tablets, and other tech gadgets to choose from, Microsoft’s taken big steps in creating something more affordable. Hot off the heels of the success of the Surface Pro, the Surface Go is the answer for those who want an inexpensive, but tech-heavy tablet computer. If you’re among the crowd looking for a sleek combination of looks, function, and savings, the Surface Go may be right up your alley.

What is SNMP?

If you are a new network professional in the field of Information Technology, SNMP is an acronym you will come across often. Or you may have heard of it at some point during IT training. SNMP means “Simple Network Management Protocol.” It is an application layer protocol integrated with an internet protocol suite to help with the management of online communication protocols.

SNMP was first used in the late 80’s, a time when companies were investing heavily in internet networks. SNMP effectively aids the monitoring of network infrastructures such as data stations, printers, servers, hubs, routers, WINS, and host configurations.

Today, it is still one of the most widely used layer protocols for simple networks. Many networking specialists love it because it offers a consistent and reliable way of monitoring many devices on a network simultaneously. It also allows for sharing of information between the components of the network even if the devices run on different operating systems.

Why is SNMP important?

Network management protocols like SNMP have made identification and management of network devices easy and convenient. The protocol keeps track of changes in the network and relays the status of all network devices in real time.

SNMP architecture

As the name hints, SNMP has a simple architecture which is based on the client’s server technology. Basically, the server is the network manager; it measures different variables and processes data relayed from different devices on the internet network. Client devices on SNMP networks are referred to as “Agents.” The agents are either computing devices or peripheral devices connected directly or indirectly to the network. They include computers, phones, printers, and network switches, among other devices.

SNMP data Hierarchy

Even though the SNMP network protocol is based on a simple architecture, its philosophy of data hierarchy is a little complicated or at least will seem complex if you are not familiar with it. Fortunately, the data hierarchy is easy to understand once you grasp the concept behind it.

The SNMP data hierarchy works on a tree-shaped format whereby the branches at different heights represent data available for managers at different management levels to collect. These branches are referred to as Management Information Bases (MIBs) and every level represent of MIBs embodies a group device or peripheral device components. Each MIB is identified using either a unique number or a string. The numbers and strings work on the same concept as hostnames or IP addresses and can be interchanged.

All the management information bases have one or multiple nodes. These nodes represent the devices or device components on the MIB. The nodes are marked using Object identifiers (or simply OIDs) which are also denoted using either numbers or strings.

Using the numbers and strings, managers can troubleshoot or run a query on an agent and to find out the status of network devices in real time. For instance, if a manager needs to know the status of an interface, he will start by querying the MIB then narrow down to the OID value which represents the operational status of the interface.

Are the OIDs important?

MIBs and OIDs are data hierarchies on SNMP systems. They may seem confusing at first but there are many advantages to them. The most outstanding advantage is that you can pull down the exact information you need without necessarily sending explicit requests to the client device to collect it. This significantly reduces pressure on network resources and ensures that all data pertaining to the status of the network is readily available to managers on request.

The architecture is also easy to understand, flexible and can incorporate many devices at different parts of the network. The simplicity makes it possible to pull up large chunks of data from the devices quickly without jamming the network system. The data is usually available in its simplest form and in real time, which makes decision making easy and fast.

Versions of SNMP

SNMP has undergone numerous developments over the years. With every new version comes more features and functionalities than the previous version. In addition, each version has different network protocols so you have to be keen on a version that will serve your network management needs best.

One remarkable attribute that makes a big difference between the versions is the security feature. Various network systems have different security requirements, so you must find a version that best serves your unique needs. Below is a highlight of the versions:

• SNMPv1─The very first version of SNMP. Has very weak security properties. Still widely used today, especially by companies which have not updated their SNMPs to more recent versions.
• SNMPv2- First used in 1993. It had more enhanced security features compared to SNMPv1.
• SNMPv3-Released in 1998. It is the most recent version and most secure version.

SNMP Wrap Up

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) offers easier identification and management of network devices. It makes real-time monitoring of the status of your network accurate and dependable. It also makes the management of online communication protocols possible. SNMP evolves and develops with every new version to deliver better features and functionalities.

The Microsoft Inspire 2018 partner conference is now behind us, but the new dawn that it marked for the company’s cloud computing service, Azure, has just begun.

Of course, there was a lot that transpired from this partner conference, especially the new opportunities, resources, and incentives that are now available for partners.

In this write-up however, we focus on the wide range of updates – not in all of Microsoft’s partner programs and products that span Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and other business apps, but its cloud computing service known as Azure.

Here’s a roundup of the tech giant’s biggest updates and additions to Azure from the Inspire 2018 conference.

New Cloud Apps And Technologies

The number of cloud apps and technologies that are available through Azure just multiplied. The first amazing addition to this channel is the Azure Data Box Disk, an SSD-disk based version of the Azure Data Box appliance rolled out in 2017.

With the Azure Data Box Disk, businesses can move data into Azure with much ease regardless of where the data lives. The new offering allows for the transfer of up to 35 terabytes of data from multiple remote locations such as offices or branches – whether on a recurrent basis or once.

The other interesting Azure addition from Microsoft Inspire 2018 is Azure Virtual WAN, a networking service that provides users (businesses) with automated, optimized branch-to-branch connectivity through Azure using last mile internet. It also allows businesses to build a spoke-hub network in Azure that can route traffic to virtual appliances such as Azure network security services and firewalls.

The Azure Firewall is a managed, cloud-based network security service that protects your Azure Virtual Network resources. The Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS) is highly available and fully functional, with unrestricted cloud scalability.

The high availability being built-in means that there are no additional load balancers, nor anything that requires configuring. The unrestricted cloud scalability, on the other hand, means that your Azure Firewall can scale up as much as needed to accommodate fluctuating network traffic flows. Ultimately, you won’t need to budget for any peak traffic – which translates to significant cost savings.

Microsoft Is Expanding Private Offers In The Azure Marketplace

As part of Microsoft’s 2019 development plans for its partner network, the company is expanding its private offers in the Azure marketplace. This means that partners will be able to deliver a better buying experience to their customers by confidentially sharing with them solutions that meet their unique buying needs. This way, Microsoft partners are getting a new means to boost their sales with the corporation.

With the private offer feature, partners are also able to offer discounts to select customers on the Azure channel, rather than having to put up with the standard pricing approach, which can be less appealing.

Vetted & Approved By Microsoft: Azure Expert Managed Service Providers

Microsoft just took its Azure Expert Managed Service Provider program, started as a pilot program at the beginning of the year, to another level. The Azure Expert MSP program is a brand-new platform designed to help those select partners who have demonstrated the greatest level of skill and capabilities with regards to delivering consistent managed services on Azure. This helps them to stand out from the pack.

For a partner to join the new Azure MSP group, they have to be carefully vetted by Microsoft. One of the key qualifications for entering the program is to obtain references from multiple customers and pass a rigorous two-day third-party audit, which is repeated every year.

The idea, according to Microsoft, is to ensure that partners in the Azure Expert Managed Service Provider program are prepared to facilitate customer migrations to the cloud and help them with their cloud projects.

Azure IoT Central Gets New Updates

Azure IoT Central, Microsoft’s Software-as-a-Service IoT (internet of things) solution experienced nothing short of a facelift. These updates are introducing support for the business analytics service, Power BI, and task automation tool Microsoft Flow, as a way to make visualization of real-time intelligence possible.

Additionally, partners on the Cloud Solution Provider program are now able to include management and provisioning of Azure IoT Central applications in their subscription offerings.

Customers seeking to migrate their Windows Server and SQL Server 2008/2008 R2 workloads to Azure have also been assured of a time extension and free security updates even as Microsoft is winding down its support for the former.

Beyond Microsoft Gold: New Apps And Infrastructure For Azure

As part of its mission to boost profitability for partners, Microsoft is launching advanced specializations going beyond Microsoft Gold competencies to help partners with differentiation.

Apps and Infrastructure will include SAP on Azure, cloud migration, Azure Stack, Linux on Azure, backup & disaster recovery, as well as high-performance computing and networking.

Conclusion

Microsoft is clearly pushing positive outcomes on its partner network. And judging from the revelations from the Inspire 2018 conference, the company is determined to see this network prosper. They’re making the most of the opportunities that have since come to light and forging ahead for a brighter future.

Security for your automobile is so important today due to the current rise in car theft. It is necessary to protect your transportation from this threat.  Your car represents a hefty financial investment, not to mention that it provides transportation for your whole family.

However, many people take auto security for granted. If you’ve ever had your car stolen, then you understand how traumatic it can be. This article will help you better understand how to perform some basic safety precautions to keep your car safe. Many insurance companies offer lower rates if you install extra protection to keep your car safe from thieves. Sit down and relax, so that you can learn how Fob systems work.

How Key Fobs Work

The main Fob systems include electronic devices. These devices function by reading a key Fob when placed in close proximity. If the key Fob is authorized, the reader sends a signal to the door and the user can gain access. Key Fob entry systems offer greater ease of use, enhanced security, and more control.

Once the key Fob is within short range to the access device reader, the system opens the car door to permit entrance only for the owner. The Fob has a special recognition number and the right-to-use system can be programmed to limit or block entry at any time. The biggest advantage of key Fobs and keyless access in general is that a Fob can be instantly blocked in case it’s stolen or lost.

Because of the uniqueness of each car’s key Fob, billions of codes are created so that each one is exclusive.  But hackers have ways of intercepting the wireless signal and then narrowing down the numerical combinations. Within minutes, a hacker’s computer program can figure out the code to unlock your car. This poses a challenge to the security of everyone’s automobile.

Why You Should Wrap Your Keys In Aluminum Foil

Unlocking your car wirelessly is a convenient technology, but it comes with limitations. Thugs have come up with easy ways to intercept the FOBs signal and seize it, locking out alarm signals. The unique key Fob code is sent to the car’s security system using a computer chip. The car has a chip that uses the same algorithm in order to generate codes. Once the codes match, then the car doors open.

Car thieves have figured out how to hack the access codes of your Fob even if it’s not in the car. By capturing and manipulating signals from Fob keys, they can steal your car in just minutes. They use products that assist in intensifying the signal from the key Fob and this allows the car to be stolen effortlessly.

One simple solution to preventing a car thief from stealing this information is to wrap your key Fob in aluminum foil when the key Fob is not in use. The foil blocks the signal, preventing thugs from being able to decode it. Though this is pretty low-tech, it does work and it isn’t hard or expensive to do. Just a bit inconvenient.

How Criminals Attack

Criminals have come up with a way of detecting key Fob signals from a distance of 300 feet away using an amplifier. Signal theft is becoming a much larger problem that even experts can’t deal with. High-powered RFID readers make it all possible. This technology is relatively inexpensive and very accessible to thieves.

Steps To Stop Car Thieves

It is possible to block these amplified signals from reaching your key Fob. One method involves buying a signal-blocking purse or wallet to hold your keys. While this is a simple remedy, it’s important to make sure your keys are properly stored so signal blocking works all the time and correctly. If you can’t afford a purse or wallet with this technology, then try lining your purse with aluminum foil. You can also line only the pouch that holds your keys with foil. Many people keep their keys in the same pocket or area of their purse, so just line that specific area with the foil and remember to place the key Fob there when not in use.

Wrap Up

These days, it’s important to make sure you’re doing everything possible to keep your home and car safe. Though there are many new types of security systems to use, it can be expensive or difficult to install and use them. If your budget won’t allow it, look for easy, low-cost ways like using aluminum foil to protect your key Fob. Make it as hard as possible for thieves to steal from you. They’re often lazy folks who are searching for the easiest targets, so each layer of protection you add, makes you less of a target for car thieves.