Cyberloafing is Productive
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Aug 24, 2011
The Wall Street Journal wrote up an article on a study performed at the National University of Singapore on the effects of web browsing on productivity.
According to the new study entitled “Impact of Cyberloafing on Psychological Engagement,” Don Chen and Vivien K.G Lim actually conducted two studies.
In the first, they assigned 96 undergraduate management students into one of three groups—a control group, a “rest-break” group and a Web-surfing group. All subjects spent 20 minutes highlighting as many letter e’s as they could find in a sample text. For the next 10 minutes, the control group was assigned another simple task; members of the rest-break group could do whatever they pleased, except surf the Internet; and the third group could browse the Web. Afterward, all of the subjects spent another 10 minutes highlighting more letters.
The researchers discovered that the Web-surfers were significantly more productive and the tasks than those in the other two groups and reported lower levels of mental strain, mental boredom and had higher levels of engagement and concentration.
Another big take-away from this study is the hit that productivity takes when workers respond to personal emails during the day.
By contrast, workers can’t control the kinds of email they receive, and reading and replying to each message is “cognitively more demanding, relative to Web surfing, as you need to pay attention to what is said on the email.
Our New 800 Number
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Jul 12, 2011
Since PCS has been growing and expanding into other cities and states, we thought it was time to “bite the bullet” and get a new 800 number for the benefit of our customers.
866.976.9136
..and here is how to navigate the auto attendant…
- For PCSDesk Network and Computer Support, select Option 1
- For Sales, select Option 2
- For Cloud Server and Web / Email Hosting, select Option 3
- For Voice over IP Services (VoIP) select Option 4
Thank you for your business!
4th of July Weekend
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Jul 1, 2011
PCS will be closed Saturday, July 2nd and will re-open on Tuesday, July 5th in observance of the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
If you are a contract customer and are experiencing an emergency, please use our Contact Form and the first available technician will get in touch with you.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Lenovo ThinkPad SL510
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Jun 2, 2011
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Lenovo ThinkPad
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| CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo T6670 2.2G |
| Memory | 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 |
| Chipset | Intel Mobile GM45 Express Chipset |
| Display | 15.6 Inch HD, LED Backlight Display |
| Hard Disk | 250GB 5400RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s, 2.5″ wide, 9.5mm high, removable, upgradable |
| Optical Drive | DVD burner, SATA 1.5Gb/s, 12.7mm high, fi xed, not removable, tray-in |
| Graphics | Intel GMA 4500MHD |
| Battery Life | Up to 4 Hours (Normal Use) |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit |
| Dimensions | 14.9″ x 9.72″ x 1.26″ – 1.42″ |
| Weight | 5.64 lb (2.56kg) |
| Warranty | 1 Year Depot Warranty |
| *Sales Tax, Shipping and Delivery/Installation not included in price |
Is It Down?
Posted by Brian Gallutia on May 23, 2011
For anyone who does any amount of web surfing either during their work day or at home, the condition usually arises where you cannot access a web site that you’re used to visiting all the time.
When PCS takes these calls from clients to troubleshoot the issue, the first thing our technicians do is ask for the URL (IE: the address) to see if the problem is with the client or if the problem is that the site is down.
Now you can check the status of a web site by visiting Down For Everyone or Just Me? at http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/
Down For Everyone Or Just Me? is such an brilliant idea for a website, it’s a wonder that no one thought of it before. In order to see whether a site is up and running or off, simply type its URL into the field provided and click the “or just me” link.
For Opera, Firefox and Chrome users, an extension by the same name is also ready to test seemingly dead websites for you, but if you’re working on a computer where installing add-ons isn’t an option, you’ll be glad the original web–based version is still there waiting for you to rely on.
The Franklin Theatre
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Mar 9, 2011
We are both delighted and thrilled that The Franklin Theatre has selected PCS to provide the networking technology that will allow all patrons to utilize high-speed Internet access.
We got the chance to visit The Franklin Theatre last week and everyone involved in the project is doing a fantastic job in bringing the theatre back to life!
We appreciate the opportunity and we look forward to seeing many of our friends and customers on opening night.
$100 in AdWords Advertising
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Mar 9, 2011
From now until March 31, PCS is giving away $100 in free advertising to any friend or customer who would like to advertise on the Google AdWords platform.
If you or your business are interested in taking advantage of this offer, please drop us a line and we’ll be happy to send you an invitation!
Glasnost ISP Test
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Feb 24, 2011
If you’ve ever been downloading torrent files or browsing through YouTube and your speed just doesn’t seem to be as fast as it should be, it is possible that your ISP could be “shaping” your Internet connection by limiting how certain applications download information or handle video and audio streams.
To test your connection, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems have made available their Glasnost test which works by..
..measuring and comparing the performance of different application flows between your host and our measurement servers. The tests can detect traffic shaping in both upstream and downstream directions separately. The tests can also detect whether application flows are shaped based on their port numbers or their packets’ payload.
The Glasnost project is meant to keep your ISP honest and provide transparency between the ISP and the customer. Give it a try today and please share any “ISP wrongdoing” if you come across results that indicate your bandwidth is being throttled.
What IPv6 Means to You
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Feb 8, 2011
Last week I posted a news item where the Internet is officially out of IPv4 addresses. Today on LifeHacker, Adam Dachis fields the question…
I’ve heard that we’re running out of IP addresses and we need to switch to a new system called IPv6, but I don’t understand any of it. What does this all mean for the internet and for me?Signed,
Infinitely Perplexed
Adam’s response “breaks it down” in a way that most Internet users should be able to understand. The one item of note from this article and from my previous post is that it is important to insure that the software and hardware being used is “up to snuff” with the new standard.
Click Here to read the article on LifeHacker
Click Here to contact PCS if your business needs assistance with IPv6 compatability
No More IPs Left
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Feb 1, 2011
The Internet is officially out of the numerical addresses that route web surfers to web sites and emails to their recipients. The AP reports ..
The top-level authority that governs such addresses will distribute the last batches on Thursday, two people with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement wasn’t planned until Thursday.
For most Internet users this doesn’t mean much, but for businesses this could mean additional costs and fees from ISPs and online service providers to insure that the new numbering scheme (IPv6) is in place and working properly.
Ouch.
Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/02/01/1619498/internet-runs-out-of-phone-numbers.html#ixzz1CkYjbUxJ