All of this mobility comes at a price. Identity theft is becoming a real concern, as mobile devices used on open wireless networks could expose your valuable private data to hackers out trolling for their next victim.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to approach security issues a bit too casually when using our tablets — like leaving it sticking out of our backpack while going to the counter for a refill or on the seat of an unlocked car. The very thing that makes these device so convenient also makes it more vulnerable to theft. If you use it to access your bank account, a resourceful thief could figure out how to follow the path into your account.

Our friends at the Naked Security blog recently posted a very handy article on steps you can take to make your tablet more secure. We think all tablet users would benefit from checking themselves against the advice here:

Securing a Tablet for Web Browsing in Six Easy Steps

If you need help setting up your new tablet or mobile email account, we’re here to help.

Agent Ron G. has been battling the forces of unruly technology run amok since 2001, prior to Geek Squad’s acquisition of Best Buy. When not busy creating video & technical training content for Geek Squad Agents in the field, Agent Ron enjoys home brewing, international travel, sketch writing, and learning how to cook new cuisines.

Shirley Ann Jackson

Everything in the world around us is made of tiny bits of matter. Understanding how those tiny bits of matter interact as they travel through space and time – the study of ‘physics’ – helps us make more sense of the world in which we live. It is because of the research of scientists like Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson that we are able to have computers that fit in our pocket, and phones that fit in our watch.

After graduating as Valedictorian from Washington DC’s Roosevelt High School in 1964, Dr. Jackson attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she first studied theoretical physics, and continued on for her graduate work in elementary particle theory. In 1973, Shirley became the first African American woman to earn a doctorate from MIT in nuclear physics, and only the second African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in physics in the United States. Her doctoral thesis, “The Study of Multiperipheral Model with Continued Cross-Channel Unitarity,” was published in the Annals of Physics in 1975. Dr. Jackson’s research specialty was theoretical condensed matter physics, especially layered systems, and the physics of opto-electronic materials.

Dr. Jackson worked at a number of prestigious physics labs in the United States and Europe after receiving her doctorate. Eventually, she settled in at the Theoretical Physics Research Department at Bell Labs, where she worked for more than 15 years. Moving to academia in 1991, she joined the faculty at Rutgers University to teach and conduct research projects. In 1999, Dr. Jackson became the president of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), known as the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world. She is now in her second 10-year contract as president of RPI.

One of the most interesting parts of Dr. Jackson’s job is she gets to study the particles that make up every atom in everything around us. There are several ways to study subatomic particles.using a particle accelerator which speeds up particles to incredibly fast speeds and then smashes them into each other (think NASCAR with incredibly small bits of stuff, circling around magnets to achieve superfast speeds, and then a giant crash at the end).

Dr. Jackson worked for President Clinton as the first woman and the first African American to chair the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She was later appointed by President Obama in to serve on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in April of 2009. Through the years she received many fellowships and awards to recognize her achievements as a scientist and teacher. Because of her “significant contributions as a distinguished scientist for education, science, and public policy, ” Dr. Jackson was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of fame in 1998.

Agent Kate B is a 3-year veteran of Geek Squad, currently on assignment at Geek Squad City. Follow Agent Kate on Twitter @AgentKateB.

For more information about Shirley Ann Jackson:
Shirley Ann Jackson: Wikipedia
Physicists of the African Diaspora
Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D., Profile from RPI site
Yesterday and Today: Top Women Scientists

That’s a phrase Agents hear every week. Most customers spend a good deal of time preparing for their major tech purchases – comparing features, checking system compatibilities, measuring dimensions and reading product reviews. The strange thing is that many seem to forget how their new gizmos can simplify their lives between the time they say “I’ll take it” and they get it out of the box at home. Yeah, it’s all in the manual, but who has time to read the manual?

We do.

Here are some tips and tricks you may have forgotten since the salesperson mentioned them back at the store. Never hurts to be reminded…

Outsmart Your Smartphone

There’s so much more you can do with a smartphone beyond making calls.

• Most smart phones include a lot of functionality. Apps are available that will let your phone do many things you used to need your computer for – create spreadsheets, edit text documents, even display PowerPoint presentations. Syncing files and data between your computer and phone is very easy, allowing you to work on the same files using multiple devices. You can also back up or transfer all the data from your smartphone onto your computer, so you do not lose all your contact lists and pictures.
• If you have an iPhone and Apple TV, you can download the Remote app (iPhone/iPad, free), that will let you use your smartphone as an fully functioning remote control. There are plenty of apps for both Android and iPhone devices (DirecTV, DISH Anywhere and Verizon FiOS) that allow you to browse through channels, control your DVR and more.

Making the Most of your eReader or Tablet

So many people said technology would kill reading as a pastime. But e-readers and tablets have only increased our appetite for the printed word. Here are some steps you can take to help your devices help you.

• Touch screens, MP3 players and WiFi can reduce the battery life. To make your battery last longer, remember to:
  • Turn off the WiFi when you’re not using it
  • Lower the screen’s brightness, and
  • Turn off auto adjust brightness
• You don’t have to carry all your content with you. Many tablets and eReaders have wireless capabilities, so you can stream content rather than saving it to your device and taking up memory. Speaking of memory, some tablet and eReader brands have expansion slots, so you can add more memory, on microSD cards for example, as needed.
• Some eBook stores, like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, have iPhone, Android and PC apps available that will sync eBook purchases Syncing your content allows you to read your ebook on all your devices (smartphone, e-reader, laptop or desktop.)

You’ve Got to See It to Believe It!

These days televisions are for more than watching shows and movies. High-definition displays and internet connectivity mean getting the most out of your TV is a bit more complicated than making sure all the cables are hooked up correctly. Here are some things to keep in mind.

• Cables are important. While regular cables may work, HD TVs and Blu-ray players work best when connected with HDMI cables. You cannot get a high-definition picture without HDMI cables.
• Blu-ray players, gaming systems and other devices will need occasional firmware updates to keep them working their best. Frimware is the software that runs your device and updates are available from the device manufacturer’s website. Devices with an Internet connection can be updated directly. Some older devices may need to have the updates transferred to a thumbdrive and updated that way. For more information on firmware and how to update it, check out the 2 Minute Miracle videos we have posted on our YouTube channel.
• Connecting your Blu-ray player and gaming system to the Internet will give your access to streaming video and other features not available without a connection. Most of these devices will be Web-ready and be able to connect to your wireless network.
• Most new televisions can be used to display photos and videos from your camera, computer, memory card or smartphone. Many allow you to easily connect your gadgets via USB or insert a memory card to share your photos and videos instantly on a large screen for everyone to enjoy.

Game On for your Gaming Systems

Web connectivity has made gaming systems more fun than that old Nintendo machine you grew up playing.

• PlayStation 3 and 4, Xbox 360 and Wii all have the capability to connect to wireless networks.By connecting to the Internet, you will be able to download special gaming features, play video games against people anywhere, rent videos and access music.
• Most gaming consoles are designed to make it easy to meet up with other players online. The Xbox 360 with Kinect adds video to the mix – the system allows users to , video chat with other Xbox 360 Kinect owners and PC users running the free Windows Live Messenger program.It’s a great simple teleconferencing system.
• With all the connectivity, it can be tough to keep track of what the kids are doing when on the system. Be sure to check the parental control settings on the system to make sure the young ones are going places on the Internet they shouldn’t be.

If you aren’t sure that you are getting everything out of your new computer, home theater or gaming system, we can help.

Agent Ron G. has been battling the forces of unruly technology run amok since 2001, prior to Geek Squad’s acquisition of Best Buy. When not busy creating video & technical training content for Geek Squad Agents in the field, Agent Ron enjoys home brewing, international travel, and learning how to cook new cuisines.

The new Windows looks very different from the last five or six versions of the system — and change is sometimes hard. (At the time of the OS’s release, we published a series of posts here to help users get a sense of how to cope with the changes.)

One of the most significant changes is the way the OS handles applications.  They are closer to the apps you buy for your smartphone – less expensive, lighter, and more visually-oriented. Windows 8 apps are available from the App Store that is built in to the system.

Agent Tufts (from our United Kingdom branch) put together a blog post highlighting the most useful Windows 8 apps. We hope you enjoy it:

Top Windows 8 Apps You Didn’t Know Existed

Agent Ron G. has been battling the forces of unruly technology run amok since 2001, prior to Geek Squad’s acquisition of Best Buy. When not busy creating video & technical training content for Geek Squad Agents in the field, Agent Ron enjoys home brewing, international travel, and learning how to cook new cuisines.

In an increasingly mobile world, you don’t even need a computer to do business online. According to a recent study by Forrester Research, nearly 13% of mobile phone users access their banking information through their smartphones. That number is expected to increase to 108 million by 2017, meaning more than 45% of bank account holders in the US will manage their accounts with mobile tools.

However, all of this convenience comes with a downside: with more and more of our private information transmitted over the Internet, it can expose that information to hackers and ne’er-do-wells looking to use it for their own nefarious purposes. Every day, new identity scams and ‘crimeware‘ are unleashed into the cyberworld, and it’s tough work keeping up with them. There are a few standard steps you can take to protect your private data, and it’s always a great idea to use a secure password, but what it always comes down to is constant vigilance.

Unfortunately, everyone makes mistakes. If you do fall victim to crimeware, what should you do to minimize the damage? The folks over at the UK branch of Norton/Symantec  put together a great article on how to recover if your victimized. (Check it out at the link below.)

What to Do If You’re a Victim

Restoring your computer to its pre-infection state can be a little tricky. If you aren’t in the mood to deal with it on your own, don’t worry – Geek Squad Agents can help. (We live for this sort of challenge.)

Agent Ron G. has been battling the forces of unruly technology run amok since 2001, prior to Geek Squad’s acquisition of Best Buy. When not busy creating video & technical training content for Geek Squad Agents in the field, Agent Ron enjoys home brewing, international travel, public speaking (yes, he’s that kind of crazy) and learning how to cook new cuisines.

Losing your mobile device – smartphone, tablet or laptop – can be a traumatic experience. Life in the modern world is so device-driven that suddenly being without the gadget you’ve come to rely on can be amajor inconvenience. Even more of a drag than paying for a new phone is recovering all those saved contacts, emails, documents, photos, music files and passwords c — if you even can, that is.

Don’t panic. We’ve got some helpful tips for you to lock, locate and recover your device, and give you better peace of mind.

Lock

Before

Locking your device with a password can help ensure that your data is kept safe in the event of loss or theft.

For laptops, mobile devices and tablets, we recommend using a strong password that is at least 8 characters long. It should contain a combination of numbers, letters and symbols, using a combination of upper and lower case whenever possible. For added protection, laptops should be physically locked when left unattended (even at home). Finally, never write down your password (it makes it easier for someone to find it) or tell anyone what it is.

After

If you misplace your device before you’ve had a chance to lock it with a password, make sure to change the passwords to all personal accounts your accessed through that device before it disappeared, or else whoever finds the device will have access to all of them. This is especially important for email accounts, online banking login information and social media sites, because they tend to contain the most valuable personal information.

Also, be sure to contact your service provider when you discover your device is missing. Many providers are able to remotely lock your device or account, helping to prevent unwanted phone calls, data usage and costly fees.

Locate

Before

While passwords and locks are a good first line of defense, there are several additional ways to protect your device if you set it down somewhere, or it falls out of your pocket.

One of the first things to do is install a mobile security suite on your mobile device. On Android smartphones, free apps like Lookout Mobile Security, Norton Mobile Security Lite, Seekdroid Lite and Webroot Secure Anywhere Mobile let you remotely locate your device, lock it, and/or delete all the data in it.

Users of the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch can get similar functionality by, installing the free Find My iPhone app. Users can sign in with their Apple ID, and a map showing the approximate location of their device will be available. The app gives users the option of displaying a message on the lost hardware, locking it down, or remotely wiping it.

For even more security, you might want to check out Geek Squad’s Locked & Found app($2.99/month). It allows users to remotely lock their device and use GPS to locate it. Plus, if someone finds your device, they can report it through the device even if you locked it. If your device is stolen, Locked and Found can take a picture of the person holding the device and turn on a screaming alarm. We also have a 24/7 service available to facilitate getting your Apple, Android or Blackberry device back to you, and is included in Geek Squad Protection plans (or can be purchased purchased as a standalone app).

LoJack for Laptops is another lock, locate and recover service available specifically for laptops. As with the services for smartphones, LoJack allows subscribers to remotely lock and delete files from the laptop if it is ever stolen. The system uses patented technology to track the laptop and assist local law enforcement to recover it. Plans start at $40 per year.

After

If you haven’t installed a security program on your device, you can always try locating your device by contacting it via phone, text or email. If you’ve installed them, you can use free services, such as Skype or Google Voice. You can also send the device a detailed message with information on how to return your missing device through email or SMS message using Gmail.

Recover

Equipment is replaceable. Often times, data is not. Make sure you don’t lose your data by regularly backing up your gadget’s information.

With the proper utilities, you can easily synch your smartphone or tablet to your computer using the USB port to transfer information. You can also use a cloud storage app such as iCloud (free) for Apple and MyBackup Pro ($4.99) for Android, which allow users to back-up and access their mobile device’s data from any location. If you’re a Google+ user, the Instant Upload feature automatically uploads photos and videos from your smartphone to a private album, so you never lose a memory.

With PC laptops, software programs such as Genie Backup Manager ($39.95), Norton Ghost ($69.99) and Second Copy ($29.95) automatically maintain current archives of your personal information (as does Time Machine for Macintosh computers). You can access cloud storage sites such as Evault and IBackup from any Internet connection.

Want to back things up the old-fashioned way? Burn it to CD/DVDs, or manually copy your data to external hard drives or USB devices (just remember to back up your data on a regular basis).

No matter which approach to securing your mobile devices your choose, always remember that in our mobile world, data security comes down to three words – lock, locate and recover.

 And the Iron Chef of the Year Goes to… Your Smartphone Apps

• What’s for dinner? One too many nights of staring into the refrigerator and dreading another night of leftovers? Fret not, true believers — help is on the way! The AllRecipes.com Dinner Spinner (a free app for Android, iPhone, Windows Phone and Kindle Fire) can provide you with some inspiration. Just enter your meal type (breakfast, lunch, main course, snack, etc.), any ingredients you have available, and preparation time, and voila! A meal is suggested. (You can even turn on filters to specify vegetarian, non-dairy, non-wheat dishes and more.)
• Managing multitasking mania. From starting the water boiling, to deboning the chicken, to keeping an eye on the buns in the oven, cooking often involves juggling several things at the same time in order to get everything to come out right. Before chucking it all and heading to the local  drive thru, check out the 5 in 1 Kitchen Timer (Blackberry, iPhone $1.99). This handy tool lets you set up multiple timers for each step in the cooking process, reminding you exactly when to flip, fry, frappé and fricassee.
• Check your labels… digitally! For calorie counters and health-conscious cooks, the USDA Food Database App (Android, $0.99) helps users find the nutritional information for food items based on serving size, covers more than 7,500 food items and dishes, and organizes them by categories for quick searching.
• It’s 5 o’clock somewhere! Dinner is done, and it’s time to relax with a cocktail. The 8500+ Drink & Cocktail Recipes (iPhone, Android free) is exactly that – a veritable mixed-drink cornucopia, with more entries than you’ll ever need. Pick a new drink to find its recipe or enter the ingredients you have on hand and let it suggest one. Bottoms up!

Keeping Track of Cooking Trends

Keeping up on the latest recipes, techniques and events from your favorite cooking sites can mean a lot of clicking and digging through things. This is where RSS (Really Simple Syndication) comes in very handy. RSS lets you create a newsfeed from the sites you are interested in, letting you keep up on new content from those sites without digging through them one-by-one. Most websites and blogs offer RSS feeds and there are a number of free RSS readers available free.

Another option are services like Pocket (http://getpocket.com) — a internet browser add-in that allows you to bookmark a page for reading later. Adding Pocket (Android, iOS: free) on your smartphone, tablet, and computer makes it easy for you to check out your recipes wherever you go.

Cooking and Video: The 101 Approach to Cooking

Cooking shows are popular today. So is internet video. Put them together, and bam — you’ve got a world of culinary options.

The old tried-and-true method for finding videos of your favorite cuisine prep is Youtube — and why not, since it has such a huge base of contributors? But if you are looking for something with a little better quality (no shaky cam, lighting, good sound and smooth cuts), then check out HowCast & VideoJug — two DIY based video sites that both have a wide range of recipes & quick, helpful tips demonstrated by experts. And if you want to take a master class in a subject? Check out Craftsy — where world renowned experts like Peter Reinhart and others hold online seminars on artisan bread baking, cheese making, cake decoration and more – for around the same cost as your average cookbook today.  

Feasting with Your Eyes

Want to drink in the latest and greatest of cooking online, before you make the plunge on a recipe? Foodgawker and Tastespotting are here for you, providing colorful rows upon rows of pictures from the latest in food blogging beauty. See something you like? Click through to the food blog, with recipes and ample pictures to guide you through duplicating that recipe in your home.

Cook and Dine With the Family – Virtually

Video conferencing software is making it easy to visually connect with family and friends in real time. So whether you need tips on doing mom’s turkey gravy or just cannot make it across the country to a reunion dinner with your friends from school, it is easier than ever to be there using Skype, Google+ Hangouts and FaceTime.

Agent Ron G. has been battling the forces of unruly technology run amok since 2001, prior to Geek Squad’s acquisition of Best Buy. When not busy creating video & technical training content for Geek Squad Agents in the field, Agent Ron enjoys home brewing, international travel, and learning how to cook new cuisines.

When things like this hit the press it’s often difficult for most users to understand whether they should be concerned or not. Lifehacker has a good article that discusses what these vulnerabilities allow unauthorized users to do, how passcodes work, and how best to secure your phone. If you’re concerned with the security of your smartphone, it’s definitely worth the read:

How Secure Is the Passcode on My Phone?

If you still need help understanding and using your smartphone, Geek Squad can help.

But the modern world of mobile computing has made preserving digital files a bit more complicated. It’s not that the way files are saved to computer memory has changed. (After all, its still just a bunch of 1s and 0s, when you get down to it.) It’s the sheer number and variety of devices that contain your digital content that’s making the keeping of your digital information safe (and retrievable) challenging.

It used to be all those files were saved on the computer you created them on. Now — with digital cameras, tablets, laptops and smartphones — most of us create and store digital content on a number of devices. Most of those gadgets can share files either wirelessly, or via removable storage media, so passing files, photos and music between devices has become incredibly easy. (This makes it even more difficult to figure out if you saved that pic of your mom with cake on her nose… and where you put it.)

As most Geek Squad Agents will tell you, the key to many things in life (including effective digital storage) is to come up with an good procedure and stick to it. Since everyone’s file preservation needs are different, an effective system usually involves a customized combination of standard tools.

While doing some research recently on storage solutions, we came across a wonderful series of articles on CNET explaining the techniques and technology behind digital file preservation called “Digital Storage Basics. It was just the right combination of detail and overview to help just about anyone spec out an effective digital storage system, and is definitely worth the time.

Check the articles out here:

Part 1: Internal Storage v. Memory

Part 2: External Drive v. NAS Server

Part 3: Backup v. Redundancy

March is Women’s History Month.  March 2 is national Old Stuff Day – and there’s nothing older on Earth than the rocks and minerals that make up our planet. In celebration of both, this month we continue our series on notable women in science and history by highlighting the accomplishments of planetary geologist Adriana Ocampo.

Adriana Ocampo is a time traveler. Not with flux capacitors or slingshotting a starship around the sun, but as a planetary geologist — a scientist who studies rocks — she examinies the origins of the universe by studying the Earth itself. Through examining the rocks and minerals that make up our planet and satellites (our moon), planetary geologists develop theories that help us understand how and when our planet was formed. Planetary geologists work closely with paleontologists, anthropologists, physicists, astronomers, and other scientists to develop ideas about the creation of  our world, and other worlds in our solar system, galaxy, and universe. The study of planetary geology provides us a link to our ancient past.

Adriana knew by the time she was 8 years old she wanted to work in space travel. Born in Columbia and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, her family emigrated to Pasadena, California when Adriana was 14. As she went through middle school and high school, she worked hard and always kept her goals in mind. When she was a junior in high school, she got a summer job at the nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which only served to feed her ongoing passion for science. After graduating high school, she began working for NASA at the age of 21, becoming a member of the imaging team for the Viking mission to Mars in 1976. Her work at NASA allowed her to be one of the first people to see the surface of Mars, when the Viking lander transmitted the images of the planet back to Earth.

While working full time for NASA, Adriana earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from California State University, Los Angeles, going on to get a Master of Science degree in planetary geology from California State University, Northridge. In 1984 she started working on the Galileo project, a robotic mission to explore Jupiter that was ultimately launched in 1989. Galileo traveled to Jupiter and mapped the planet and its moons until it crashed in 2003. She also worked on the Juno mission to Jupiter, the New Horizons mission to Pluto, and many planet mapping projects. Adriana was part of the group of scientists who explored the Chicxulub Impact Crater in Mexico, believed by many to be a crater created by an asteroid that crashed into Earth. Scientists theorize the asteroid impact created a huge cloud of dust whch altered the global biosphere and may have been a major cause of the extinction of dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous Period.

Ms. Ocampo has been a program director at NASA, a program executive at the European Space Agency and is currently back at NASA as a senior research scientist.  For any young person looking for a career in science, she is a shining example of setting goals and achieving success. On her profile on the NASA website, Adriana says that the S.T.A.R.S. hold the secret to her successes.

• Smile, life is a great adventure
• Transcend to triumph over the negative
• Aspire to be the best
• Resolve to be true to your heart
• Success comes to those who never give up on their dreams

For more information on Adriana Ocampo, please visit:

Latina Women of NASA

Adriana Ocampo profile on NASA webiste

Article about Adriana Ocampo on U.S Department of State’s website.